Price hike looms for Post Office home phone customers

All Post Office home phone customers will see the price of their line rental rise by £2/mth, regardless of whether they pay monthly or annually.

The company is also increasing the price of its evening and weekend calls package from £1.25/mth to £1.50/mth, and the per-minute price of daytime calls to national and local numbers and 0845/0870 numbers.

However, it is cutting the price of both its essential and premium broadband deals, which require customers to have a Post Office phone line, by £2/month - meaning if you have both broadband and home phone, you'll only see the cost of calls rise.

The Post Office says its other calls packages, including Anytime, International Saver and both Mobile 100 and Mobile 500, will remain at the same price.

Post Office price changes in full

Price rises:

• Standard line rental (paid monthly): Will increase by £2/mth, from £13 to £15.

• Line rental saver (where you pay upfront for 10 months instead of 12 for a year's line rental): Will increase by £24/year, from £120 to £144. (So, the equivalent monthly payment will rise from £10/mth to £12/mth.)

• Evening and weekend calls: The cost of this call package will increase by 25p/mth, from £1.25/mth to £1.50/mth.

• Daytime calls to national and local numbers: Will increase by 1p/min, from 8.5p/min to 9.5p/min.

• Daytime calls to 0845/0870: Will increase by 1p/min, from 8.5p/min to 9.5p/min.

Price cuts:

• Broadband Essential: The price of the Post Office’s broadband essential package will fall by £2/mth, from £7/mth to £5/mth.

• Broadband Premium: The price of the Post Office’s premium broadband package will fall by £2/mth, from £10/mth to £8/mth.

This is the second time that the Post Office has announced price changes this year. In April it cut the cost of many home phone and broadband bundles but introduced a charge for its UK weekday evening calls bundle. (See the Post Office set to change home phone and broadband prices MSE news story for more info).

The Post Office's announcement comes as BT, Sky and TalkTalk customers face price rises from 1 December, while Virgin Media customers will see changes from 1 February next year. In September, Plusnet also increased some of its prices.

What the Post Office says

A spokesperson from the Post Office says: "Whilst we have increased some of our home phone prices we are still one of the best value providers in the market.

"We have also reduced prices on our broadband which means that 30% of our customers who have combined packages will see no impact on their monthly payments for line rental and service."

Can I leave my contract penalty free?

If you're an affected customer you can leave for free as long as you tell the Post Office before you recieve your February bill and give two weeks' notice that you will be leaving.

Customers can call the Post Office customer care team on 0345 611 2970 if they want more information. (See our Cheap Home Phones and Cheap Broadband guides to find out if you can get a better deal.)

The Post Office say that it is writing to all customers to inform them of the charges.