Sky, Virgin Media and EE are hiking prices – here’s what you need to know to avoid them and the best deals
April is nearly here and for many consumers this means the dreaded mid-contract price hikes. Many broadband, TV and mobile suppliers will start to rise rates for existing customers in line with inflation.
According to Uswitch, inflation-linked price rise figures are revealed every January for most providers, when the CPI figure for December is announced. Some providers, like Virgin Media, base their inflation price rise figures on the RPI rate announced in February.
However, if you signed up to a new broadband contract recently, you may be on a fixed price increase instead. This would have been shown to you in pounds and pence when you signed up. Others like Hyperoptic, are known for not increasing rates for existing customers, making their slightly pricier plans feel more worthwhile for consumers keen to avoid the hikes.
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From 2025, Ofcom banned providers from including inflation-linked price increases in their new contracts. As a result, most have introduced a fixed annual price increase, which is stated in pounds and pence when you sign up. We’ve rounded up everything you need to know if you’re looking to switch providers.
Which providers are offering set price increases?
If you’re wondering if you’re affected, here’s a list of broadband providers that offered the set price increase instead of the inflation and the dates they started offering them:
Can you beat the hikes and which providers are worth looking out for?
One thing to consider is whether you are out of contract. If you are, you can go to a new provider and avoid the hikes. If not and you’re wondering which providers don’t offer price increases, we’re here to help.
Some broadband providers don’t actually have mid-contract price increases – however, this means you may have to pay more for them per month for them. One of these is Hyperoptic.
Hyperoptic is currently offering three months free broadband on its packages which is perfect if you hate price hikes – and paying a lot for broadband. Prices start at £28 a month, which is a fair price and you can choose your contract length. The only downside to Hyperoptic is that it isn’t available to everyone so you’ll have to check if you can
There’s also Utility Warehouse, which offers broadband services as well as cheap energy prices. Utility Warehouse tends to offer cheaper prices the more utilities you take out with them – perfect if you’re also shopping around for energy prices before the price cap increase.
If you don’t mind the set prices, Virgin Media and Sky are always good choices, especially if you want TV packaged in as well – but there are price rises you’ll need to consider. Virgin Media now increases prices by £3.50 every year while Sky offers price rises based on inflation.
That means that Sky will raise prices by 6.2 percent from April 2025 and effectively avoiding the Ofcom ruling. Sky claims the ruling does not apply to them because they don’t apply increases in this way. Sky says this is because prices across its broadband are variable, which means customers who are in a minimum term on these products can cancel their package after being notified of a price increase.
Despite this, Sky offers cheaper broadband packages from £27 a month. Virgin Media offers broadband packages starting at £23.99 a month, depending on your preference.