Consumers Hit By Rising Energy And Fuel Bills Now Face BT Price Increase
As consumers face rising energy and fuel bills the cost of making a call with BT is set to increase for the third time in a year meaning many customers will be paying an extra £100 when they receive their telecom bill.
BT has increased the cost of making calls with charge increases coming into effect at the end of next month.
It comes at a bad time because not only are consumers now faced with rising fuel, energy and food costs but they are now set to be hit by above inflation rises to the cost of making a call.
BT has not just increased the cost of making daytime calls but has also increased connection charges and the call minder answer phone service and line rental. While only those on the basic package will be affected by most of these increases, all BT customers will be hit by the rise in line rental. Just a year ago BT line rental was £12.79 a month while the next price rise will take it to £13.90 a month.
Only a year ago daytime calls were at 5.4p a minute but this has increased to 7.6p a minute while the connection charge has gone up from 9.3p a year ago to 12.5p once the new charges come into effect.
BT is trying to persuade more people to join its premium call package where most calls are free but BT is guaranteed to take £4.70 a month on top of line rental charges.
A spokesman for BT said “The changes mean we can invest in even better value plans, including those with calls to mobiles”.
He added “We are happy to discuss with customers the savings they could make with Line Rental Saver and an inclusive calling plan”. He continued “millions of people have signed up to our Unlimited Anytime Plan in the last year and 75% of UK landline calls on our network are now free”.
BT will inform customers of the new price rises by letter.