News

Households brace for 'price hike April' as fuel, broadband and TV costs set to rise

Households brace for 'price hike April' as fuel, broadband and TV costs set to rise
A person fills their car with fuel. Photo: PA Wire/PA Images

Hundreds of thousands of households are bracing themselves for yet more price hikes on Monday as fuel, broadband, mobile phone and television costs are set to increase for many.

From midnight on April 1st, the cost of petrol and diesel will rise.

The price at the pumps on Monday will see drivers pay an extra 4 cent per litre of petrol, 3 cent per litre of diesel and 1.5 cent on marked gas oil.

It is the latest step by the Government to restore excise rates to the levels they were at before a temporary cut was introduced due to the war in Ukraine.

Advertisement

Also starting from next week, most customers of Eir and Vodafone will see their bills go up by 7.6 per cent as the companies' "annual price adjustments" take effect.

Under this policy, bills go up each April by the annual rate of inflation as of January each year plus an additional 3 per cent.

Customers of Three see their prices go up by a flat 4.5 per cent each April regardless of the rate of inflation.

Advertisement

Other providers such as Sky and Virgin Media are also upping their prices in April.

However, the firms have not committed to annual automatic price hikes for now.

Sky is hiking its prices by an average of 4.1 per cent on some of its products, for example.

Daragh Cassidy from price comparison site bonkers.ie said price rises across the telecom industry "was bad for competition and bad for consumers."

Advertisement

"It’s no coincidence that all the main providers now hike their prices by a similar amount and at a similar time each year," he said.

Despite the rising prices, Mr Cassidy said there is still strong competition among all providers for new customers.

"A household could easily save €40 or €50 a month on their broadband and TV bills for an entire year by switching. Many of us will jump through hoops to shave €40 or €50 a year off our car insurance. So it’s a no-brainer to not look at switching your broadband and TV when you could save a multiple of that over the course of a year."

Later in April, the price of certain pints of beer will also climb by about 10 cent.

A 6 cent increase on Diageo products including Guinness, Carlsberg, and Smithwick’s will take effect from April 15th but will come to almost 10 cent when tax is included.

It comes on the back of a 12 cent price hike the drinks giant rolled out this time last year.

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website Beat102103.com.

Advertisement