BRITS are feeling the squeeze as bills are going up in every which way imaginable.
Inflation means soaring costs at the supermarket, while energy bills suck up all the funds at home – but millions are set to pay more for internet and mobile phone bills this year too.
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O2 and Virgin Mobile are hiking bills by as much as £48 a year from April, while Sky is adding £43 a year to broadband and TV bills for millions.
BT, EE and Vodafone are planning to hit more customers with bill hikes of up to £74 a year come April too.
Virgin Media is even hiking prices by £56 a year for its own broadband and TV customers.
But many households can’t afford the hikes as they grapple with the other blows of the cost of living crisis at the same time.
If your contract is coming close to its end, it might be worth a shake-up to avoid forking out the extra spends.
Last year new rules came in that mean phone and broadband customers have to be warned that their contract is ending – that gives them enough time to shop around, and get out of a pricier deal if they need.
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They can also be told how much they could save with a new deal.
You’ll usually get told up to 40 days before the contract is due to end, and this can be the perfect time to start looking at how to avoid paying more the next time around.
How to avoid a price hike
You shouldn’t have to pay any more than you have to for your broadband, so it’s worth trying to avoid the hikes where you can.
The first thing you should do is have a shop around.
There might be a better deal out there that works out to be cheaper than the one you’re currently on – so long as you’re nearing the end of your contract you can simply jump ship and move to the cheaper tariff.
But keep in mind that if you are still in contract you might face an early exit penalty which could undo all the hard work you put into saving a few pennies off your bill.
If you’re planning to switch, use comparison sites like Uswitch, Broadbandchoices and ComparetheMarket to find the best contract for you.
Sometimes simply asking does the trick too.
If you give your provider a call and explain you’re not happy with the hike, they may be able to offer you a better deal.
It could take a bit of haggling, and you’ll need to be prepared with other examples of where you could get it cheaper.
There’s no hard and fast guarantee it’ll work either, but it’s always worth a shot.
A Virgin Media customer did manage to save £210 on their broadband bill because of the method though.
It’s thought that households could save as much as £250 a year on bills from broadband to mobile phone deals simply by haggling.
Another even topped that, as they managed to save as much as £264 a year on their broadband bill simply by asking, so making a saving can be done.
How to get help with a price hike
If there’s no way of avoiding the price hike, then you could look at getting help to cover the costs instead.
Millions of households on benefits could save £100s on their broadband bills if they take advantage of the right help.
BT, Community Fibre, G.Network, Hyperoptic, KCOM and Virgin Media O2 all offer social tariffs – which allow you to enter cheaper deals, but only if you’re eligible.
You have to apply directly with the provider who will asses if you fit the bill to receive the cheaper deal.
According to Ofcom you could save on average £150 on your broadband bills by switching to the lower rate schemes.
But you have to be receiving either employment and support allowance, income support, jobseeker’s allowance, or Universal credit, and sometimes other benefits, to claim.
Most start from just £15 a month with up to 50Mbit/s on offer.
TalkTalk even offers its own FREE broadband, but it’s exclusively for job seekers.
This scheme is with the Department for Work and Pensions, and the jobcentre can hand out a referral code to get the deal in England, Scotland and Wales.
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