TODAY is deemed ‘National Price Hike Day’ where traditionally, at the start of the financial year, people’s cost of living goes up.
According to financial comparison website money.co.uk the annual household bill in the UK will increase by £158.
Standard prescriptions will increase to £9.15 from £9 – up two per cent – and an NHS dental check goes up by five per cent from £22.70 to £23.90
Stamps will cost 79p – up 9p (13 per cent) from yesterday and TV licences have risen from £154.50 to £157.50 (up three per cent).
The research also states the average pint of milk has increased by 14 per cent from 44p to 50p and other expected increases include mobile phone contracts and home phone and broadband.
Council tax has increased in many areas, although it has been frozen in others and even decreased in a small number of areas.
There is some good news for consumers, however, according to money.co.uk – the cheapest energy tariff for a household with medium annual usage has reduced from £903.33 on April 1, 2019, to £776.14 today, and the average UK water bill has dropped from £413 last year to £396 for the next 12 months.
Salman Haqqi, personal finance expert at money.co.uk, said: “The start of a new financial year is always a good excuse for many companies to raise the cost of their product or service – everything from stamps to watching TV.
“Some of these price hikes might seem small and insignificant on their own, but when you add them all together they could cost you an extra £158 a year and it couldn’t come at a worse time for consumers, who are already coping with the effects of the coronavirus outbreak.
“Some increases will be impossible to avoid, but you can do something about dealing with the cost of your energy, phone and broadband.
“Always check you’re on the best possible tariffs and don’t think twice about switching providers for a better deal if your contract is up.”