The latest price rises have been announced by Sky. Here's how you can avoid paying more.
Sky customers are about to see a 6.2% rise in line rental from £14.50 per month to £15.40. The price rises kick in from 1st December.
It is also raising the price of a number of call rates from 3rd December.
The 90p increase will start appearing from November as Sky customers are billed a month in advance.
Line rental charge
Sky is the latest provider to announce a price hike, following BT which is putting prices up by 6.5% in the New Year.
Customers who have already prepaid for their line rental won’t be affected by these changes until this period ends. They will then have the option of staying with Sky at the higher rate or leaving the company and switching to another provider.
Sky says the price hike is in line with its terms and conditions and has been implemented to improve the company’s overall service.
Letters have already been sent out to Sky customers outlining exactly what is changing.
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Call costs
Sky is increasing the cost of several phone lines. The connection fee for non-inclusive calls is changing to 15p, from 13.87p, per phone call.
Phoning lines such as 1471 and 1571 is becoming more expensive with an increase of 2.3p per call to 20p. The cost of calls to UK mobile numbers is changing to a flat rate of 12p per minute, from 12.77p for evening and 7.66p for daytime calls.
Phone calls to the Channel Islands are also increasing from 8.41p to 8.9p in the daytime.
Price increases across the market
In June Sky announced it was raising the price on some of its TV packages by up to 10%. Last year it also pushed up line rental costs by 18% in December.
[SPOTLIGHT]BT has already announced it is increasing line rental costs in 2014 to £15.99, from £15.45. It’s also raising the price of a number of phone call costs.
Providers have a habit of copying each other when it comes to price hikes and last year all the major providers announced them. Therefore it’s likely other companies, such as Virgin Media and Talk Talk, will soon follow suit.
How to beat the price hike
Most companies won’t let you leave early without having to pay a penalty charge. Therefore if you want to switch to another provider you’ll have to wait until your initial contract period, usually the first 12 months, is over.
Last year when price rises were enforced customers were allowed to leave without penalty, but the increase was much higher at 18%. It’s worth asking if this is possible, but as price rises are written into the company’s terms and conditions it doesn’t have to allow this.
Switching away from Sky to another company is the best way to ensure you won't have to pay the increased charges.
There isn’t much difference between the different providers, but new customers often get rewarded with the best offers. Virgin Media, for example, offers six months half price and up to £100 off for new customers signing up before October 17th. EE also has a half-price 12-month offer and with BT Infinity you’ll get a £50 Sainsbury’s giftcard.
Before you switch read our article The UK's best and worst broadband providers so you know how well your provider fares.
Compare broadband and landline deals with broadbandchoices.co.uk