Families braced for hikes in bills

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.

Council taxes are rising as local authorities seek to maximise revenue to pay for struggling frontline services.

The average household water and sewerage bill in Wales and England will rise by 6% or about £27 to £473 a year.

Water UK said the funds raised by increased water bills were guaranteed only to fund improvements in water and sewerage systems, and bills would automatically be reduced by the regulator if they were not delivered.

Most broadband deals and mobile phone contracts will rise by 7.9% from today.

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 as 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.

Separately, the annual cost of a TV Licence will rise to £169.50, 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 UK 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.

The price of stamps rises tomorrow, first-class stamps by 10p to £1.35 and second-class stamps by 10p to 85p.

A Treasury spokesperson said: “Our decisive action has meant that inflation has more than halved to 3.4% and is forecast to fall back to the two percent target within the next three months - a full year ahead of expectations.

“That is protecting households around the country from higher costs.”