April 1 dubbed 'National Price Hike Day' as UK families £100 worse off from Sunday
April 1 will be no joke for bill payers this year, with a slew of day-to-day costs bumped up on what has been dubbed “National Price Hike Day".
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Hide AdNational Price Hike Day falls on Easter Sunday this year – and that's the day you’ll be hit with a raft of inflation-busting price hikes.
It's estimated that each household will have to find over an extra £100 over the next 12 months to cover the increased costs, a total of over £2 billion across the UK.
"As you tuck into your Easter eggs this year, a raft of everyday things will cost you more from stamps to your TV licence," says Hannah Maundrell, Editor in Chief of money.co.uk.
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Hide Ad"Your wallet could be hit left, right and centre on April 1. These price hikes may appear small and ‘nothing to worry about’ but add them all together and they could cost you around £100 extra a year.
“You won’t be able to avoid some of the increases, but you can certainly take control when it comes to managing the cost of your energy, phone and broadband.
"The more money you can keep in your pocket the better," adds Maundrell.
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Hide Ad"Check you’re on the best rates and switch providers to get a better deal if you’re out of contract. Look at where you might be able to cut small everyday costs too like switching your morning coffee habit to taking a flask into work with you instead.
"Not only will you save yourself a small fortune but you’ll be cutting down the amount of plastic you use too.”
Price hikes to come
First-class stamps have risen from 65p to 67p and the price of a second-class stamp has also gone up by 2p to 58p. Posting a small parcel now costs 5p more up from £3.40 to £3.45. Average council tax bills are set to go up by as much as 5.1% in some parts of the UK, which is an increase of £81 a year. Water bills will increase by £9 (2 per cent) to £405 for the average household (Households in Scotland will see water bill price hikes limited to 1.6% (£6) a year ). Prescription costs in England will also go up by 20p from £8.60 to £8.80 (2.32 per cent). The NHS dental charge payable for a check-up will increase by £1 (4.85 per cent) from £20.60 to £21.60. The dental charge for a band 2 course of treatment will increase by £2.80 from £56.30 to £59.10 (almost 5 per cent). The charge for a band 3 course of treatment will increase by £12.20 from £244.30 to £256.50 (5 per cent). TV licence costs will also go up by £3.50 from £147 to £150.50 1 April Air Passenger Duty on long haul flights (over 2,000 miles) is set to increase by 4 per cent, hiking flight costs. NHS wig and fabric charges - the cost of NHS wigs and fabric supports are rising by about 1.5 per cent.
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Hide AdCommunications suppliers crank up costs
EE bills will rise by 4.1 per cent across the board in line with January’s RPI. O2 bills will also increase by 4 per cent in line with February RPI. Vodafone customers that took out a monthly plan on or after the 5th May 2016 will see a bill hike of 3.6 per cent in line with March RPI. Sky Broadband customers will see line rental costs rise from £17.40 per month to £18.99 (9.1 per cent) Post Office Broadband customer will see increases – the Essential package will rise from £25.00 a month to £27.00 a month (8 per cent)
Prices are also heating up for energy customers
EoN are removing their dual fuel and paperless discount resulting in an average price hike of 2.7 per cent for its dual fuel customers meaning an annual bill hike of £30 on average. 19th April.ENGIE bills will go up by 5.9 per cent, leaving customers on a standard variable tariff £58 out of pocket on average. 4th April. Bulb bills will crank up prices across its standard rates by 2.8 per cent, leaving those with a dual fuel tariff typically £24 worse off. 28th April iSupply jumped on the bandwagon last month with an average price hike of 7.5 per cent for its dual fuel customers meaning an annual bill hike of £76 on average. 1st March.