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Catherine Furze

Households warned of broadband and phone hikes of up to 10%

Millions of families already feeling the pressure of rising energy and food price rises will have more misery heaped on them in the spring.

Mobile, broadband and phone bills are set to soar as much as 9.3 per cent this spring as the cost of living crisis continues.

BT, EE, Plusnet, Vodafone, O2, TalkTalk, Shell Energy are all raising their in contract prices, in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation, which recently hit 5.4 per cent.

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The providers then add up to 3.9 per cent, meaning bills could increase by nearly 10 per cent soon.

The price rises are written in to most mobile and broadband contracts, meaning if you signed up to a new deal within the last year, or sometimes two years. there's nothing you can do about them.

Switching service Uswitch is calling for consumers to be allowed to walk away penalty-free from broadband and mobile contracts they can no longer afford.

While providers must permit customers to leave penalty-free in light of unexpected mid-contract price rises, the majority of increases this spring will not be covered, as most contracts contain a rule allowing inflation-based price changes.

Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at Uswitch, said: 'With inflation at its highest level in 20 years, many mobile and broadband consumers will have never experienced price rises like these before.

'Worryingly, more than half of people do not know these mid-contract rises are on their way and many more are unaware of how they are calculated.

'With most of the main providers planning increases there is nowhere to hide, and consumers are currently unable to escape mid-contract rises that are written into their contracts without paying a penalty charge.

"At a time where the cost of living is under real pressure for households, providers should let consumers walk away penalty-free from these excessive, unexpected hikes.'

Mobile and broadband bills are set to soar by nearly 10% (PA)

BT, EE and Plusnet customers are facing an increase of 9.3 per cent, or an average of £3.50, equivalent to £42 per year.

On average, Plusnet customers will see a monthly increase of £2.40 or £28.80 per year.

Vodafone confirmed it will increase bills by 9.3 per cent whilst TalkTalk will increase bills by 9.1 per cent.

Previously, Virgin Media announced it would be increasing its broadband prices, reportedly by an average of £4.70 a month equating to an annual increase of £56.40, although customers can leave their contract without paying any early termination charge if they contact Virgin Media within 30 days of receiving notification of the price increase.

Shell Energy and Sky have yet to confirm if there will be any price rises, and if so, buy how much.

If you are one of the millions of customers of the firms that have already announced price hikes, the first thing you need to do is find out whether you are still in contract to them.

Most contracts last one or two years, and if your original contract has ended, you will have been rolled on to often pricier tariffs without signing up for them.

If that's you, the good news is you can leave at any point penalty-free - and given the best broadband and mobile deals tend to be for new customers, you're probably overpaying anyway.

Use a switching site like Uswitch or GoCompare to see if you can get a better deal elsewhere, although most of the providers are also hiking prices for new customers.

You could also try haggling and see if your provider will match or beat a deal you've found elsewhere.

However, if you're in contract it's unlikely you can leave it penalty free.

If you actively signed up to a new tariff within the last year or possibly two, the price rise will likely be part of that contract and you won't be able to cancel penalty-free.

The best advice if that's you is to note when your contract's due to end and start looking for new deals nearer the time.

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