UK ISP Sky Broadband Confirms Annual UK Price Increases

Customers of Sky UK’s (Sky Broadband, Comcast etc.) internet, phone and Pay TV products have today been told to brace for an average annual price hike of 6.7% (down from 8.1% last year), which is planned to be introduced from 1st April 2024. But this is mercifully lower than the rises of almost 8% (here) being introduced by their main competitors.

In case anybody has forgotten, Sky has traditionally shunned the inflationary (CPI/RPI) linked price hike policies of their rivals, which in recent years has resulted in their annual rises being a fair bit milder. Admittedly there’s rarely such a thing as a welcome price rise, but in Sky’s case it could certainly have been worse, even if this year’s rise is much closer to that of their rivals than last year’s.

The fact that the latest annual increase is above the current level of CPI inflation (4%) also means that customers will be able to exit their contracts penalty free. So once notified, you’ll have 30 days to make a decision about that.

In addition, Sky has once again moved to protect their most vulnerable users by “freezing the price of our broadband and mobile social tariff again this year.”

Devesh Raj, Sky’s Chief Operating Officer, said:

“It’s never welcome news that the cost of products and services are increasing, especially at a time when many households continue to face tightened budgets. As we announce some changes to our prices today, I want to be transparent about why these increases are needed and what they mean.

We’re always listening to our customers, so we know that delivering the best Sky experience, whether that’s the technology we create, the content we deliver, or the customer service we provide, is what matters most to them.

To continue to do this, from April 1, most of our TV and broadband customers will see a monthly increase to the cost of their package, with the average increase across our products being 6.7%. We have worked hard to keep our prices as low as possible.”

However, it’s worth remembering that broadband providers are NOT immune to cost increases. Providers, much like consumers, are also suffering under the burden of rising supplier and lease costs, surging inflation, high energy prices, the ever-rising levels of consumer demand for data, as well as the cost of adding all sorts of new services (e.g. FTTP) and catering for new regulations etc.

Consumer who are hit by mid-contract hikes like this could alternatively try haggling for a lower price when the notification drops (Retentions – Tips for Cutting Your Broadband Bill), although your mileage may vary. Meanwhile, those on benefits (Universal Credit etc.) also have the option of taking a cheaper Social Tariff – see our Quick Guide to UK Social Tariffs (Sky have these too).

Finally, it’s worth noting that Ofcom’s recent move to ban inflation linked price hikes (here) – due to be enforced from later this year (not soon enough to change the latest rises) – may also impact Sky’s future approach. The move won’t stop mid-contract hikes completely, but it will require providers to tell customers precisely what any such hikes will be when they sign up (in pounds and pence), which rules out changes linked to unknown future inflation values or percentages.

We have asked Sky if they can provide further details on how today’s price increases will affect their various products and services, which we’ll paste below once it arrives.

UPDATE 4:03pm

Sky has declined to provide a more detailed table of this year’s price changes. But they did note that for Pay As You Talk customers and non-inclusive calls on other packages (including calls that go over 1 hour), calls to UK landlines, UK mobiles and 03 numbers will increase by 2p to 27p per minute.

Elsewhere, Sky Mobile announced a price increase last month, with customers seeing an average 3% increase to their monthly bill, which is lower than inflation.

Finally, Sky added that they’ve invested to grow their broadband network capacity by 24% since 2022, with customers using 21% more broadband than the year before.