The four biggest broadband providers are putting up prices for 24 million households at a total annual cost of £909 million.
Sky, Virgin Media, BT and TalkTalk have raised prices in recent weeks, adding an average of £36.39 to a customer’s yearly bill, or £3.03 a month, according to Compare the Market, the price comparison specialist.
The rises will hit a large number of people working from home who signed up for more expensive superfast deals during the pandemic, along with those who will agree to permanent flexible working arrangements after the pandemic ends.
About 78 per cent of households failed to switch suppliers last year.
Holly Niblett, the head of digital at Compare the Market, said: “When one provider moves to increase its prices, the rest usually follow. However, people don’t need to swallow the cost. Usually you can exit your contract without a charge within 30 days of being notified of a price increase,” she said.
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Explaining the price rises, companies are pointing to the need to invest in their network infrastructure after the surge in customers who joined them or upgraded packages in the past year.
Virgin Media, which has 5.3 million customers, increased prices by up to £54 a year from March 1, blaming “the constant need to invest in our network”.
BT broadband, which has 9.3 million users including EE and Plusnet customers, increased its prices by up to £70 from March 31. It said this was to manage “the increase in the costs to run and invest in the network and service that we provide”.
TalkTalk, which has 4.2 million customers, said it needs to spend money on its network to keep up with a 40 per cent increase in broadband usage during the past 12 months. It said there would be a £2 increase on TalkTalk broadband packages from April 1.
Sky, which has 6.2 million customers, increased prices on its “essential” range by £3 a month and on its “superfast” range by £1 a month from April 1.
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Rules set by Ofcom, the telecoms watchdog, force companies to give customers one month’s notice of a rise in the monthly fee and allow them to exit contracts without penalties.
Some companies have been known to use a loophole by writing yearly increases into contracts when people first sign up.
Industry experts say broadband providers should put price rises in place at the end of people’s fixed-term contracts, rather than springing them on customers halfway through, which makes it more likely that they will not notice.
