IRISH TV and broadband customers are facing huge price hikes – with Sky Ireland raising some of their yearly packages by up to €60 next month.
The average Sky bill will rise by €31 a year for some customers, and 40 per cent of customers will not be affected by the increase.
The increases will mainly affect legacy broadband contracts, according to Independent.ie.
Sky’s Broadband Unlimited package will be €48 more expensive per year.
The Multiscreen and Q Multiscreen TV packages also increase by €18.
The average bill across the entire Sky base will rise by €1.54. For two per cent of those affected the average bill will rise by €2.58.
Sky argued that it needed to raise these prices to maintain its content, products and services and the cost will still be competitive compared with other broadband providers, including Eir and Vodafone.
The company said many packages will not be affected and the increase will bring the price closer to what Sky Fibre customers pay.
“From December 1 we will be making some changes to our TV and broadband pricing. Whenever we review our pricing we work hard to keep any rises to a minimum,” Sky Ireland said.
“At Sky, we want to give every customer the very best and we’re continually working to improve our content, products and services. To do this, we do need to review our prices occasionally as per our terms and conditions.”
Virgin Media also announced its broadband package would rise by €42 a year from January 14.
Several energy companies have raised their tariffs, in a move that has made it even more pricey to run a home.
This comes as AA Ireland released a report finding a major jump in the cost of running a home.
The cost of owning and maintaining a home in Ireland has risen to €16,374.45 per year, an increase of over €350 compared to 2017.
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Telephone and broadband bills on average make up €434.62 of that figure.
Conor Faughnan, AA Director of Consumer Affairs said: “Home heating and electricity costs have also surged in the past year meaning that even those who were fortunate enough to acquire their home when property prices were a little lower have seen their wallets take a significant hit.”
“Overall, the percentage of the average national wage which must be put aside to cover these costs has dropped slightly, albeit by approximately one percent, many homeowners will be concerned to see the cost of most of their household bills increasing.”