This topic

BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

Trev012 — Fri, 01 May 2026 08:03:28 GMT

I was aware via earlier email from BT that my bill would rise from 1st April by £3. I usually get my monthly bill via email on 28th of the month.

When my recent bill came in on 28th April, it had risen by £5.71 and NOT the £3 they said it would. I spent far too long on a chat with BT and they just waffled nonsense saying the bill is correct, which it certainly is not. JUST ADD £3 TO MY BILL AND I'D BE HAPPY WITH THAT !!!

Please see extract of chat with BT agent when I raised it with them. It simply doesn't make sense.

"I am sorry if I have missed it. Let me explain this.
Previously your pacakge price was £36.79. Every year from during March, prices
go up across the industry to keep up with rising network, service and
operational costs. Hence currently your monthly pacakge is £39.79

You have been charged £42.50 this month as Our prices changed on 31 Mar. We've
refunded you for services charged in advance on your last bill, and re-charged you at the new
price. so there is an one off charge of £2.71 for the duration of 31 Mar - 27Apr. So the total is £42.50.

Of course, I know that £36.79 +£3 should be be £39.79 AND NOT £42.50 for that month.

BT agent cannot explain properly with there is an additional £2.71 to me and I am sick to death of their pricing policy.

With that in mind, after over 44 years as a continuous BT customer, I am now looking at other providers.

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

TimCurtis — Fri, 01 May 2026 08:13:22 GMT

@Trev012

It's actually correct as you pay in advance so last month you paid for the next month at the old rate but that rate has now increased so you have to pay the extra for that already "paid in advance" month.

Sometimes it's not easy to explain but BT are correct and your next bill should be for the £39.79 that you are expecting to pay.

All ISPs would be doing the same as BT so nothing unfair or unjustified.

To be fair it took me a while to get my head around this.

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

garybs29 — Fri, 01 May 2026 08:16:01 GMT

Honestly, it's pro rata pricing, you pay in advance so you'll have a part month charge for previous price paid from 31st March on last bill after increase plus the £3 in advance. I sometimes wonder why people struggle to understand that as the dates a re clearly laid out on the bill & you've actually copied the information into your post! It's actually clear from what the advisor said -

You have been charged £42.50 this month as Our prices changed on 31 Mar. We've refunded you for services charged in advance on your last bill, and re-charged you at the new price. so there is an one off charge of £2.71 for the duration of 31 Mar - 27Apr

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

iniltous — Fri, 01 May 2026 08:34:09 GMT

I’ve recently seen the DD on my bank statement for BT , expecting a £4 increase applied 31 March as outlined at the start of the ‘contract’ , but it was a little more (£6.70 instead of my assumption of £4 ) however the estimated bill for following month shows the expected amount up from £32 to £36 (or thereabouts ) which is correct …the explanation is pretty simple , my bill date is the 10th of the month , the previous bill for £32 should have had a a few days with the increase price , so should have been more than £32 , I actually owed BT more than £32 , but because of when the bill is generated and processed etc , I was actually debited £2.70 less than the correct amount, that underpayment corrected on this bill, hence the slightly higher than expected increase of one month , that settles down to the amount expected for the next year …transition bills take a little time to understand.

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

Colin_London — Fri, 01 May 2026 08:36:48 GMT

They really do try their best to explain on their bills how this works with little graphics and everything.

This month you are paying your new price PLUS a small pro-rated amount for the period between the end of March and your bill date which effectively you underpaid last month.

This is just because the price increase did not align with your bill date.

So there is no mistake. Next months bill will be what you were expecting.

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

Kodikid — Fri, 01 May 2026 08:53:23 GMT

44 years as a BT customer and you still haven't worked out their billing system..

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

Kimberlin — Fri, 01 May 2026 08:58:58 GMT

@Trev012 As had been explained, there is nothing unfair or unjustified about BT’s price increases, its is how it is and all within the T’s&C’s.

Can’t get this across in a sympathetic way, but your 44 years as a BT customer literally counts for zero. You’ll just keep getting the annual price increases until you decide to do something about it. Either renegotiate with BT when your contract ends and you go onto the 30 day rolling contract, or switch out. New customer deals are usually very good across all ISP’s. One Touch Switching has made it even easier to switch away.

I appreciate some folks just stick with one ISP because it’s just easier to do that, but what you can’t then do, is complain about the pricing if you’re unhappy with the amount you’re paying. The choice literally is, yours.

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

Trev012 — Fri, 01 May 2026 09:01:24 GMT

Absolutely !!! They certainly don't make it simple.

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

Trev012 — Fri, 01 May 2026 09:04:25 GMT

Thank you for your reply Tim, much appreciated.

BT must be the only company I know that works this way and just causes confusion for consumers.

Incidentally, my gas maintenance company just increased my monthly fee to them by £1 and guess what..... It went up by the said £1. That's the way it should be done. Clear and concise!

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

iniltous — Fri, 01 May 2026 10:35:09 GMT

You will find that everyone in this industry that applies their annual increase on a particular date (like the 31st March ) does this bill adjustment of transition dates , joining , leaving , annual increase , with people joining every single day of the month not just on the 1st , there is always going to be bills that are mid month to mid month , it’s impossible to have every customer bill to be from the 1st of the month to the last day if the month , then send out 5 million bills at the same time .

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

VeteranISPUser — Fri, 01 May 2026 10:50:35 GMT

@Trev012wrote:
Incidentally, my gas maintenance company just increased my monthly fee to them by £1 and guess what..... It went up by the said £1. That's the way it should be done. Clear and concise!

Hi @Trev012 You cannot compare two completely different types of bill. Gas is paid in arrears and BT is paid in advance.

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

zulu17 — Fri, 01 May 2026 15:56:03 GMT

It would be possible for a billing system to charge prorata in advance for increases to standard monthly charges given the charges are known at the time the bill is calculated. The company have chosen not to do so and apply a retrospective adjustment later

This effectively means the first bill after the annual increase date is higher than the normal ongoing charge as it includes the underpaid advance prorata charge due in that was not included in the previous bill.

Of course with the ongoing issue with MY BT there are customers lacking their detailed billing information currently.

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

WSH — Fri, 01 May 2026 16:12:59 GMT

Strangely enough, I’d say just the opposite.

BT’s bills have always been easy enough to follow. I suspect the reason for the retrospective adjustment is to accommodate if someone decides to exit when the price goes up and if you stay then the adjustment is applied.

It’s the energy companies direct debit systems that tend to wander off into completely fantasy if you don’t keep an eye on them!

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

somniac — Sat, 02 May 2026 08:43:32 GMT

@Kodikid 14 years on the planet and you still haven’t worked out how to treat people with respect.

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

somniac — Sat, 02 May 2026 08:46:58 GMT

I have been saddled with a sudden extra charge of £3 for a “pay as you go” DV landline. Just plonked on for no different service to that which I have had for almost a year. Plus the £4 rise equates to a 20% rise in my DD.

Re: BT Price Increase Policy is SO Wrong

iniltous — Sat, 02 May 2026 09:03:43 GMT

£3 for PAYG is the standard (discounted ) charge , so if you had telephony and weren’t paying for it , then I’d suggest the more philosophical view is that you have been fortunate to have had this chargable service for ‘free’ for as long as you have .