Sky is hiking prices for millions of customers by up to £72 a year

MILLIONS of Sky customers will be hit with price hikes of up to £72 a year from April.

The changes will affect existing TV and broadband customers from April 1, while existing home phone users will see prices change from May 1.

Sky is hiking prices for millions of customers by up to £72 a yearCredit: Alamy

New customers will also be charged the new prices from tomorrow, February 17.

How much your bills will go up by depends on which Sky products you have and when you signed up.

The largest possible increase is £6 a month or £72 a year, but Sky said the average hike is £3 a month or £36 a year.

The changes will affect millions of customers, although only 8% are said to be hit by the maximum price rise.

How are Sky prices changing?

HOW much your bills will go up by depends on what Sky products you have and when you signed up.

However, below’s how the standard price of Sky’s packages for those within their minimum contract term are increasing:

The Sky Signature TV package will rise by £1 a month, from £25 a month to £26 a month
Multiscreen will rise by £1 a month – from £14 a month to £15 a month
Sky HD will rise by £1 a month – from £6 a month to £7 a month
Sky Ultimate will rise by £1 a month – from £4 a month to £5 a month.
BT Sport will rise by £2 a month – from £25 a month to £27 a month.
Sky Broadband Essential will rise by £3 a month – from £22 a month to £25 a month
Sky Broadband Superfast will rise by £1 a month – from £27 a month to £28 a month
Sky Talk Anytime Extra will rise by £2 a month – from £10 a monh to £12 a month
Sky Talk International Extra will rise by £2 a month – from £12 a month to £14 a month

Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, Sky Kids and Sky Talk Evening and Weekends Extra are unaffected, as are Sky Mobile customers.

We’ve outlined the standard price changes for those within their minimum contract term above.

Your bill may vary if you’ve got a special offer or if you’re out of contract, so you’ll need to wait for Sky to contact you to find out how yours is changing.

If your bill’s going up, you’ll be notified of the exact increase by email or post between February 17 and March 27.

If you’re unhappy with the price hikes, bill payers who are out of contract can switch deals penalty-free.

Sky broadband and phone customers on a fixed deal can also cancel their contract early penalty-free, but only once you’ve had an official notification of the price increase.

Sadly, TV customers on fixed deals won’t be able to leave without paying an exit fee.

If you’re planning to switch, use comparison sites like Uswitch, Broadbandchoices and ComparetheMarket to find the best contract for you.

Alternatively, if you want to stay with Sky then you could try calling up the customers service teams and haggle for a better deal.

A Sky spokesperson told The Sun: “We know price increases are never welcome and we try to keep prices down whilst still delivering the content our customers love, the flexibility to choose the package that suits them and with leading customer service.”

How to save on broadband and TV bills

HERE’S how to save money on your broadband and TV bills:

Audit your subscriptions

If you’ve got multiple subscriptions to various on-demand services, such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Sky consider whether you need them all.

Could you even just get by with Freeview, which couldn’t cost you anything extra each month for TV.

Also make sure you’re not paying for Netflix twice via Sky and directly.

Haggle for a discount

If you want to stay with your provider, check prices elsewhere to set a benchmark and then call its customer services and threaten to leave unless it price matches or lowers your bill.

Switch and save

If you don’t want to stay with your current provider check if you can cancel your contract penalty free and switch to a cheaper provider.

A comparison site, such as BroadbandChoices or Uswitch, will help you find the best deal for free.