Hundreds of thousands of customers of budget ISP Plusnet will see their bills rise from October, but luckily the damage is minimal and can be avoided.
Prices for Plusnet’s broadband and phone line rental packages will rise by 1.5% from 7 October, in line with the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation from April.
For example, a customer paying £10.99 for the broadband part of their connection (not including line rental), will see that rise to £11.15 a month.
Phone line rental, an inescapable part of all broadband packages, will increase in cost from £19.99 to £20.29 a month.
Plusnet allows customers to pay line rental for a year upfront to save money but the cost of this will rise too: to £213.03, the equivalent of £17.75 a month, from £209.88, the equivalent of £17.49 a month.
Plusnet says the average bill increase will be 40p a month, or £4.80 a year.
However, customers in fixed-price contracts that expire after October will initially be spared the price hikes. So if you move now, you can lock in lower prices for the length of your contract term.
The bill hikes will only hit customers who are out of contract with Plusnet, but they’re free to switch away at any time without penalty, as long as they give Plusnet 14 days’ notice.
All customers out of contract, with Plusnet or other ISPs, should reevaluate their broadband deals. Ofcom has found that customers who are out of contract with their broadband provider pay, on average, between £8 and £9 more than those who have scoped out a better deal recently.
A Plusnet spokesperson said: "Like many other providers, we are changing our prices in line with the Consumer Prices Index this year, meaning customers will see their broadband and line rental monthly price increase by an average of 40p per month.
"We are currently letting our out-of-contract customers know about this change, taking effect from 7 October 2020. We will also be contacting our fixed-price contract customers as part of their end-of-contract account review."
Plusnet last hiked its prices in December 2019, adding £1 to the monthly cost of line rental and £2 to the monthly bills for most of its broadband packages.
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