10,000s of Sky customers to be hit by TV and broadband price hikes from August

Sky already hiked its TV and broadband prices for millions of customers in April, and says the latest rise will only apply for those on contracts whose bills didn't go up at this point – so if your prices increased in April, you WON'T be affected.

Sky says there are a number of reasons why you could be getting the price rise now rather than in April, for example, it could depend on when you took out your contract.

The hikes mirror April's price rises:

• Sky Broadband Essential (its basic broadband package) will rise by £2/month. It's currently £20/mth for customers in contract and will move to £22/mth.

• Sky Entertainment (its base TV package that most will have) will rise by £2/mth. It's currently £22/mth for customers in contract, moving to £24/mth.

• Sky TV Multiscreen will rise by £1/mth. It's currently £13/mth for customers in contract, moving to £14/mth.

• Sky HDTV will rise by £1/mth. It's currently £5/mth for customers in contract, moving to £6/mth.

Those with multiple packages will see multiple price rises, meaning the maximum total hike will be £6/mth (£72/year) – though Sky says the average rise will be lower at £3/mth (£36/yr).

Affected customers are now being emailed and will see the price increases from their August bills.

Mid-contract? You MAY be able to leave penalty-free

If you're not happy with the price hike, you may be able to exit your contract with Sky penalty-free. But there's no point just leaving if your current deal is still the cheapest out there – so check rival providers' prices using our Broadband Unbundled tool, and remember other providers also increase prices from time to time.

If you're out of contract, you can leave penalty-free at any time as long as you give 30 days' notice.

But even if you are mid-contract, some will be able to leave without paying a penalty:

• If you're affected by the Broadband Essential price increase, you CAN cancel your contract without paying an early termination charge.

  Bear in mind that you'll only be able to do so once you've received official notification of the price increase from Sky. Once you have received this, you must call Sky within 30 days if you want to ask to leave penalty-free.

• If you're affected by a TV deal price rise, unfortunately you CAN'T exit it penalty-free as a result of these price changes.

  Sky says this is because TV contracts have different T&Cs which allow for these rises. But it may still be worth haggling with Sky if you're unhappy about the change. You could also remove any unwanted monthly add-ons to reduce your costs.

  At the very least, make sure you use the price rise as extra haggling ammunition when you come to the end of your contract.

Haggle, haggle, haggle (and if you're out of contract, consider switching)

If you're out of contract, you can leave penalty-free, so you have a lot of leverage. You're likely paying over the odds, so check if you can find a better deal using our Broadband Unbundled tool – you don't need to wait for notification from Sky of the price hikes to do this.

Alternatively, if you want to stick with Sky you're in a great position to renegotiate a better deal (you can try this if you're still in contract too, though your bargaining position won't be as strong).

Check out our Sky Haggling guide for full help and tips on how to do this.

If you do haggle a better deal, always check the length of the contract you're signing up to – a lot of Sky contracts are now for 18 months, so make sure you're happy being locked in for that long.

What does Sky say?

A Sky spokesperson said: "This is not an additional price increase – a small number of our customers did not receive notification of their price increase earlier this year and they are now being notified.

"We know price increases are never welcome, so we try to keep prices down while continuing to bring customers the best entertainment all in one place, leading customer service and even more flexibility to choose the package that best suits them."