This topic

Home Essentials price hikes

callaghankieron — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:01:18 GMT

Last year my Home Essentials increased from £15 to £18, which is a 20% jump. I've just had an email stating it's going up to £21 which is a 16.5% increase. Why these huge percentage increases when normal bills are slated to increase at 5%? At this rate I'll be paying more than a regular tariff within 4 years.

I find this remarkably unfair considering this is a so-called 'social' tariff.

Re: Home Essentials price hikes

iniltous — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:18:56 GMT

BT Home Essentials doesn’t (shouldn’t) have the annual increase other products have , and those products have the increase applied in April (coming into effect 31 March) so why post this now in September, have you just noticed or did it increase in a different month ?
This social tariff needs to be reviewed annually, have you been on this a year so need you to reapply or confirm you are still eligible, are you definitely on BT Home Essentials and not the similarly named product BT Fibre Essential.
Do you only take broadband only and have no other BT products that could be subject to the annual increase as the normal consumer increase is £4 on broadband, so the £3 increase from £18 to £21 seems wrong anyway .

There was a post on here sometime ago , the social tariff cost had increased , the poster was advised by the moderator to call as it should not happen , even further back BT floated the idea of increasing the social tariff but the negative publicity soon saw that proposal withdrawn before it was ever implemented.

Re: Home Essentials price hikes

callaghankieron — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:23:18 GMT

Thanks for your response.

I'm definitely a Home Essentials customer! I signed up 2 years ago in October so presume I'm on a rolling 12 month contract from then. The emails states, "If you're still eligible, we'll notify you and unless you contact us to tell us you'd like your service to end, you'll be moved onto the equivalent latest Home Essentials package we offer at that time for another 12 months and your monthly price will be £21.00"

Re: Home Essentials price hikes

iniltous — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:36:08 GMT

https://www.bt.com/help/terms-and-conditions/bt-home-essentials-terms-and-conditions-07082026

Seems to have been a change August 2026

the no income plan is £16.50 the Home Essentials Fibre Essentials £22 , both are the 40Mb profile advertised as 36Mb , presumably you don’t get the no income plan (whatever the no income plan is , if in receipt of some benefit presumably no one has ‘no income’ if the benefit counts as income , perhaps it’s no income apart from benefits so working but still qualify for UC men’s you are only entitled to the higher rate , but that’s only a guess .

As far as I know there is no minimum term with the social tariff so presumably if a better social tariff is available or even a regular tariff from another provider you can leave without penalty.

Re: Home Essentials price hikes

callaghankieron — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:42:58 GMT

I'm on Universal Credit since having to stop work for health reasons, therefore I have no income. I also receive PIP, but that's not counted (shouldn't be counted!) as earnings by anyone. BT perform an eligibility check annually at the date I signed up to the service. It's basic broadband, not fibre, and includes no add-ons.

My original point stands - BT will have me paying the same as a regular customer within 4 years at this rate of increase, whilst still advertising a 'social' tariff at much less!

Re: Home Essentials price hikes

iniltous — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:33:00 GMT

I don’t see how the social price can ever catch up to the regular customers price as the regular price goes up every April by £4 while there probably will not be another increase with the social tariff for a while , this increase in the social tariff price is the first for a couple of years and as stated , it may seem blunt but if other companies have better social tariffs you should investigate those and change if the BT one is no longer the cheapest .

Re: Home Essentials price hikes

callaghankieron — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:57:16 GMT

But you've provided evidence that the social tariff stands at £16.50 per month whilst I'm being charged £21 and am in exactly the same boat as those who the social tariff purports to support.

I don't see the difference between me and others, except for the fact that I've been a customer for 2 years? I'd really be interested to hear from others on this tariff who have the same experience. Or have others' costs remained at the advertised price?

Re: Home Essentials price hikes

iniltous — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:02:04 GMT

If you qualify for the No income plan BT Home Essentials , then call and ask to be put in the appropriate version,

Re: Home Essentials price hikes

callaghankieron — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:09:46 GMT

My past experience of calling BT and speaking to customer services led me to post on here! I was under the (probably misguded) impression that these boards were monitored by BT staff?

The thought of calling them fills me with dread!

Re: Home Essentials price hikes

iniltous — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:42:17 GMT

Although there are BT Moderators , the most often given reply is they have no customers account access and invariably suggest you call customer services yourself .

Re: Home Essentials price hikes

licquorice — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:45:03 GMT

The only BT staff here are the mods and they don't have access to customer accounts.