Sky TV and broadband customers given urgent warning about price hike in bills
Sky is hiking its broadband and TV prices by 8.1% on average for millions of customers - adding more than £67 a year to bills.
The telecoms giant has only provided the average price rise - meaning customers could end up seeing a bigger or smaller increase.
How much exactly your bill will rise by depends on what you’re currently paying.
An increase of 8.1% would add £5.60 to the average monthly bill, Sky said - or £67.20 extra over 12 months.
Sky said it will start notifying customers from February 16, with the price change coming into effect from April.
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Customers who are signed up to a Sky social tariff - which offer cheaper rates for households on benefits - won't be affected by the price increases.
Sky Glass and Stream customers who are in contract also won't see their bills rise while they are still in their contract period.
A Sky spokesperson said: "This is not a decision we have taken lightly.
“We have tried to minimise the impact to customers with an average price increase across all our broadband and TV customers of 8.1%, which is below levels of inflation again this year.
“Competitors’ average increase over the last two years has been nearly double Sky’s average increase over the same period.”
If you’re not happy with the price rises and you're outside your contract, you will be able to leave your Sky deal without paying an exit fee.
Sky broadband and home phone customers who are in contract can also leave penalty-free within 30 days of being told about the price increases.
If you're tied into a Sky TV contract, you won't be able to leave without paying an exit fee - but you could still try haggling for a better deal.
The latest increases come after Sky announced it would increase prices for its out-of-contract mobile customers by 9% this month.
Sky is the latest TV and broadband provider to confirm price hikes for this spring - with other providers including BT and EE hiking costs by up to 14.4%.
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Under current rules, telecom companies are allowed to increase prices mid-contract in line with inflation, plus roughly 4% extra on top of this.
The rate of Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation for December or Retail Price Index (RPI) for January are normally used to decide these price rises.
CPI inflation was 10.5% for December and some companies will increase bills by this amount, plus an additional 3.9% on top.
You can see a full list of broadband and phone price rises here.
How to cut the cost of your broadband and mobile bill
If your mobile or broadband bill is about to get more expensive, you might be able to cut costs.
If you're out of contract, you're free to leave and go elsewhere - or maybe you want to haggle down your current provider.
There is also no harm in trying to haggle if you're still in contract.
The first thing you should do, is compare prices elsewhere to see what other deals are available.
You'll normally find SIM-only plans are the cheapest.
You can compare prices by using comparison websites such as MoneySupermarket and Uswitch.
Take a look at how many minutes, texts and how much data you currently use, so you can find similar plans that suit your needs.
You may find you're actually paying too much right now for allowances that you're not using.
When haggling, explain the better deals you've seen elsewhere then ask if the company can match or beat that price.
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