Contract Price Rises

[BillBudd]

Mobile phone, pay TV, and broadband companies have been banned from surprise price rises during a contract.

In new deals from 17 January, providers must tell customers about any mid-contract price rises at the point of sale and "in pounds and pence".

This must be done in a "clear and comprehensible" way, Ofcom has ordered.

From the BBC 

[japitts]

Interestingly, EE have already done this for new mobile contracts since April 2024.

I seem to recall there was a mixed response at the time.

[newapollo]

A fairly large volume of people, especially those on lower priced contracts, are now complaining that this disadvantages them and they will be disproportionately impacted compared to those are currently on higher priced contracts. In the case of lower priced contracts the defined fixed price increases are actually higher than the previous CPI + 3.9% policy.

EE now has a £1.50 annual price hike, which on their £9/month 20Gb plan works out at 16.67% and Vodafone has a £1.80 annual price hike, so on a £10 plan this works out at 18%. The % increase only becomes comparable to the current CPI model if the contract is above £26 or so. 

[Graham_A]

@newapollo That would certainly affect me if 02 follow suit.  Currently £6.39 for 40Gb volt plan.

[Cardiffman282]

It seems the Essentials packages are exempt: "If you transfer to an Essential broadband plan, your price won’t change whilst you are receiving any of the Benefits."

[Tudor]

What I have not seen is if there is a cap on the price increase. When it was 3.9% + inflation most ISPs went with the 3.9% plus. So what if one ISP says your bill is going up by £50 per month and all the others follow. Severely disadvantaged customers.

[Buffer6]

Do their employees get wage rises at every price hike?

[jarramackem]

No, just the shareholders.