Millions of broadband and mobile phone bills are set to rise higher than the rate of inflation in less than two weeks
Consumer watchdog Which? is urging broadband firms to cancel “exorbitant” mid-contract price hikes for vulnerable customers less than two weeks before they are due to take effect. Millions of broadband and mobile phone customers can expect to see monthly bill increases of at least 14 per cent from April.
BT has confirmed an increase this year of 14.4 per cent - CPI of 10.5 per cent plus 3.9 per cent. Vodafone has confirmed it is automatically exempting customers that it has identified as financially vulnerable from this year’s price rises. Low-income BT customers could also face the highest exit fees of £194.34 if they wanted to leave a year early, closely followed by Plusnet, TalkTalk and EE customers who could face exit fees of £133.12, £122.40 and £116.63 respectively. TalkTalk has said it will automatically exempt its most financially vulnerable customers but has not specified its criteria for this.
Which? director of policy and advocacy Rocio Concha said: “With less than two weeks to go until April price increases take effect, it’s hugely concerning that some providers have not taken action to protect financially vulnerable consumers from these hard to justify above-inflation price hikes. “While Ofcom doesn’t set retail prices, inflation-linked price rises can be unclear and unpredictable, and we’re concerned that providers are making it difficult for customers to know what to expect. So we’re taking a thorough look at these types of contract terms to see whether tougher protections are needed.”
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