Under-pressure households face host of essential bill rises
Households are about to see a host of essential bills rise steeply as firms roll out their annual April 1 price increases.
Council tax, road tax, broadband, mobile, water and even stamps are all about to jump in price on or around the first of the month, with households urged to check for savings by shopping around and investigating if they are entitled to any discounts.
Council taxes are rising by various amounts in Wales, from around 5% in Torfaen to more than 11% in Pembrokeshire, but the SNP has promised to freeze council tax across Scotland until 2025.
Most broadband deals and mobile phone contracts will rise by a “completely unacceptable” 7.9% on April 1.
Many of the biggest broadband firms – such as BT, EE, Plusnet, Shell Energy, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Vodafone – raise prices every April in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the Retail Price Index (RPI) – announced in
February as 4% and 4.9% respectively – plus an additional 3%, 3.7% or 3.9%.
Uswitch calculated that the increase would cost the individual consumer around £27.19 more a year for broadband and £24.23 for mobile bills on average.
Richard Neudegg, director of regulation at Uswitch.com, said: “There is hope on the horizon, with Ofcom currently weighing up a new ban on inflationlinked and percentagebased price hikes.”
Separately, the annual cost of a TV licence will rise to £169.50 from April 1, up from £159, which viewers need to pay to watch or record live TV shows on any channel, regardless of the device used. This includes watching anything via BBC iPlayer.
The government confirmed in the Autumn Statement that vehicle excise duty, or road tax, will rise in line with the RPI from April 1.
For cars registered after April 1, 2017, it means the tax is likely to rise from its current level of £180 per year to approximately £190 per year. However, older vehicles or vehicles which emit higher levels of carbon dioxide will pay more.