Virgin Media customers face broadband, TV and landline price hikes from April – and now unable to cancel mid-contract deals if they object
- Virgin Media users are already facing 13.8% price increases this year
- Now the telecom provider has plans to increase bills in 2024 as well
- It said it will use the higher RPI measure of inflation instead of CPI
Virgin Media customers will face even higher broadband, TV and landline bills next year – and lose the ability to cancel their deals without penalty.
The telecom company is already increasing prices by an average of 13.8 percent from April or May 2023, depending on the customer’s contract.
But the provider is also the first to announce plans for its prices from April 2024.
Customers will face bill increases from the February 2024 inflation rate plus 3.9 percent. It is unusual for Virgin Media to use the higher retail price inflation measure to set its new prices, not the lower consumer price index.
Sign of the times: Virgin switches to higher inflation rate to set its price hikes for 2024
CPI is currently the standard for working out telecom price increases. RPI is currently 13.4 percent, compared to 10.1 percent for CPI.
According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the RPI is expected to drop to 1.5 percent by 2024, with a CPI of 0.6 percent.
Virgin Media customers also won’t be able to cancel their deals if their contracts go up in price half way through.
Virgin’s new terms and conditions state: ‘As this annual price increase is foreseen in your terms and conditions, no right of cancellation is given for this price increase from April 2024.’
Inflation-related price increases can be unclear and unpredictable
Ofcom’s Cristina Luna-Esteban
A spokesman for Virgin Media said: ‘We know that price increases are never welcome, especially now, but like many companies we are experiencing significantly higher costs as we invest to keep up with growing demand as broadband usage rose by 2000 last year. rose more than 10 percent. years and speeds increased by 40 percent.
“We are committed to supporting customers in this difficult environment and are freezing prices for vulnerable customers and those using our social broadband rates.”
Ofcom is conducting an investigation into price increases for mid-range broadband and telephone contracts linked to inflation.
When the communications regulator launched the review last month, Cristina Lund-Esteban, telecom consumer protection director, said such rate increases could be “unclear and unpredictable.”