EE and BT to hike bills by up to £24 per year for millions of customers

MILLIONS of EE and BT broadband, TV and phone customers will see bills rise by up to £24 a year after the provider hiked prices.

BT, which also owns EE, has said it will be increasing costs for bill payers by up to 4.5% from March 31.

EE and BT are pushing up prices for millions of customersCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Telecoms providers typically push up bills annually to rise in line with inflation.

But in September last year, EE and BT updated its terms and conditions for new customers to allow them to hike prices by December’s Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation, which was 0.6%, plus 3.9%.

Exactly how much you will see added to your bill depends on when you signed up to your contract.

Those who took out a deal with BT or EE between September 1 2020 or before January 11 2019 will see the biggest rise in costs of up to £24 a year, or £2 a month.

How does text-to-switch work?

TEXT-to-switch makes it quicker and easier to leave your mobile company by giving you control over how much contact you have with your existing provider.

This is how it works:

Text ‘PAC’ to 65075 – and keep your mobile number

Text ‘PAC’ to 65075 to start the process
The existing provider will text back within a minute and send the PAC number which will be valid for 30 days
The provider’s reply must also include information about any early termination charges or pay-as-you-go balances
The customer then gives the PAC number to their new provider
The new provider must arrange for the switch to complete within one working day

Text ‘STAC’ to 75075 – and get a new mobile number

Most people want to keep their number when they switch but one in six do not
Text ‘STAC’ to 75075 to get a service termination authorisation code
The rest of the process is the same as above

Text ‘INFO’ to 85075 – and find out more

If you are unsure about whether you will have to pay early termination charges text ‘INFO’ to 85075
You will only receive this information

Customers who have BT Sport as part of a contracted TV deal, and who dodged the £72 a year price hike issued last year, will also see bills go up by 4.5%.

For example, a £30 a month broadband bill will rise by £1.35 once the price rises come into affect, or £16.20 over the year.

Customers who took out a deal between January 11 2019 and August 31 2020 will typically see bills rise by 0.6%.

This is because they’re on the old contracts that only allow the providers to increase prices inline with December’s CPI inflation.

It means a £30 a month contract will go up by 18p a month from April, or £2.16 annually.

Only BT Sport Monthly Pass, BT Basic and Home Phone Saver, and pay-as-you-go customers won’t see their bills go up.

Plusnet users, which is also owned by BT and piggybacks on EE’s network, are unaffected by the price rises.

Customers locked into a fixed deal won’t be able to dodge the price hikes, because the price rises were outlined in the terms and conditions.

You may be able to save cash by switching deals but you may face being slapped with a penalty fee for leaving your contract early, which will eat into any savings you may make elsewhere.

Bill payers who are out of contract can switch deals penalty-free.

Use comparison sites like USwitch and ComparetheMarket to find the best contract for you.

If you want to stay with EE or BT then you could try calling up the customers service teams and haggling for a better deal.

A BT spokesperson told The Sun: “Network usage is doubling as our customers rely on us for connectivity more than ever before, and this small annual increase reflects the investment needed to support growing demand.

“The average increase for a broadband/ Mobile customer is less than £2 a month, meaning our customers will continue to benefit from the fastest networks, the best customer service and the safest products.”