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With large inflation figures in the UK in recent years, mobile carriers and broadband companies have drawn the ire of the public and consumer groups for large inflation-linked price increases. Now, EE has said that it’s moving away from inflation-linked price increases to a new model that provides clear, fixed annual increases.
The company has gone ahead with inflation-linked price increases this year, but from March 2025, it will increase mobile and connected devices deals by £1.50 per month, TV packages by £2 per month, and £3 per month for broadband. Out-of-bundle services will receive a 5% annual increase.
For people in more precarious financial situations and subscribed to the EE Basics or BT Home Essentials packages, there will be no price increases next year. The company said that it wants to try to balance necessary price changes with protecting customers from financial hardship or digital exclusion.
This announcement by EE is a big deal. For those who don’t know, EE is the second-largest mobile operator in the UK. With this shift, it could seriously push other players in the market to switch to this model and make life more straightforward for customers.
Since 2019, when EE switched to its current model in response to Ofcom’s Fairness for Customers commitments, EE has been increasing its prices by a rate of inflation, plus 3.9%. Back in 2019, this wasn’t so bad because inflation wasn’t too high but for the last few years it has been very high and customers have felt these price increases a lot.
What is unfortunate is the fact that these changes have been brought in after the horse has already bolted. Inflation in the UK is down to 3.4% already, so next year’s inflation-linked price increase wouldn’t have been as bad as those faced by customers in the last few years.
Going forward, it would be nice if companies like EE responded to criticism in a more timely manner to help protect all customers already struggling with price increases.
Source: EE
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