Price increase 2 months into a 24 month contract

[JoeWright]

I presume I missed some contract term but the contract hasn't been uploaded to my account page so I can't view it at the moment.

But I've been sent the price increase email (£5) for my cityfibre connection even though I'm 2 months into a 24 month contract.  I thought the whole point of contracts is that it locks both sides into the terms for that period.  It's like they are committing me to 24 months of paying whatever they ask me to pay.  How does that fly?

Thanks in advance for your advice

[Jason]

Hey @JoeWright. For those who took out their plan or upgrade on or after 24th February 2023 are excluded from this years price rises and won’t see a change to their monthly airtime plans from April. Those who took out their plan or upgrade before this date, the annual price changes apply. 

[JoeWright]

Ok so what's the limit on that? I don't really feel comfortable signing a 24 month contract that can change price over time.  BT never did that in contract.

[Jason · Accepted solution]

Each April @JoeWright, your monthly plan charge will increase by an amount equal to the Consumer Price Index rate published by the Office for National Statistics in January of that year (“CPI rate”) plus an additional 3.9% on top of the CPI rate. We will apply that CPI rate plus 3.9% adjustment from your April bill. In the event that the CPI rate is negative, this will be ignored but the additional 3.9% will still apply. 

In regards to BT, their services are also a part of the annual price changes - you can read more about this on their 'Annual price change' web page.

[JoeWright]

OK, thanks for the info.  BT never did that for us.  The 3.9% is pretty scummy as well.  Oh well

[Jayach]

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@JoeWright wrote:

The 3.9% is pretty scummy as well.  

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It certainly is.

[WelshPaul]

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2023/review-of-inflation-linked-telecoms-price-rises

[Jayach]

@JoeWright 

You should have been aware of the built in price rises in the contract, when you signed up.

Did you read them fully before agreeing?

[JoeWright]

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@Jayach wrote:

@JoeWright 

You should have been aware of the built in price rises in the contract, when you signed up.

Did you read them fully before agreeing?

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Going to be honest, I vaguely recall that I might have read something but if I did I think I assumed they were talking about after the 24 months because I'm so used to tie in contracts being fixed for the term.  That Ofcom report says it all really.  The way I see it is that the risk is very one sided.

[Jayach]

I totally agree, a contract should be just that. For the length of the contract, nothing should change.

I think the regulator (Ofcom) should never have allowed them. I was fully aware of what I was signing up to, but to be honest, when the inflation figures were so low, it didn't seem to matter.

Nobody (at that time) could have expected CPI to reach 10.5%