Taking the fight to Awful April

The sun may be shining, people, but here in Cheery Money Land all talk is of Awful April. Despite the Bank of England holding interest rates firm this week, household budgets for all of us will be further squeezed in 10 days’ time, as average annual household bills are set to jump by at least £400 for most readers.

Here’s what is looming.

Water

Water bills are on the rise and the average bill will go up by £123 a year as we pay for improvements to creaky old infrastructure. The precise hike depends on where you live – topping the scales, the average annual Southern Water bill will jump 47% to £703. For that price, I’d at least expect some wrinkle-reducing serums to be added. Next expensive will be Thames Water, which will raise average costs from £488 a year to £639 - that’s a 31% rise.

Energy

The annual energy bill for a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity will go up £111 a year to £1,849 from April. It’s worth taking a meter reading before 1 April before the hike and also worth considering a fix.

For those who like specifics, from April 1st to June 30th, electricity prices will rise to an average of 27.03p per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and gas prices to 6.99p per kWh. The daily standing charge for electricity will be 53.80p and for gas it will be 32.67p. Money Saving Expert think about this a lot more than I do and the basic summary of all their information is that it’s probably worth fixing if you can find a deal which is 5% cheaper than the new April price cap levels I’ve cited here.

Council Tax

We will all see notable hikes. Bills will increase by about 5% in England, between 4.5% and 9.5% in Wales, and about 8% in Scotland. Pity those on the Orkney Islands where it’s a 15% jump, despite – fun fact – there being no traffic lights here to maintain! The average 5% rise in England on a Band D house would be equivalent to an increase of £109, taking the average band D bill to £2,280.

In England, councils have the power to increase bills by up to 4.99% without a referendum, but six councils have been given permission to increase by up to 10% to try and avoid bankruptcy. Bradford council in Yorkshire and Newham in East London were given the go ahead to raise bills by 9.99% and 8.99% respectively. And it’s 8.99% in Windsor and Maidenhead. I did check and the King does pay Council Tax, and Windsor Castle falls into Band H, although this is paid by profits from the Crown Estate and not personally by the King.

And TV, phones and even flipping passports…

TV licence and broadband costs are also set to rise. For example, Virgin Media – bane of my life – is putting up costs by inflation plus another 3.9%. Mind you, I’d probably pay more for an option not to listen to Virgin Radio whilst on hold for 5 hours with a question which no-one can helpfully answer.

If you're out of contract on your mobile, get your haggling trousers on. Switching could save you £100s of pounds and so it’s always worth a quick “I’m thinking of leaving you” call to your provider to see what they come up with. They tend to answer those calls pretty quickly.

Finally, for anyone planning a summer getaway, there’s likely to be a rush of passport applications before the cost increases from 10th April. Subject to Parliamentary approval, applications will go up to £94.50 for adults, with one day Premium Service clocking in at £222.

Tick Tock to the end of the tax year on 5th April...

With bills going up AND tax thresholds frozen, we need to think harder than ever about keeping more of what we have. ISAs and pensions are the key shields most of us have. Next week I’ll be bringing you a bumper tax year special with lots of tips and ideas to save money, keep more of your money and, hopefully, make more money!

On a final note, I’ve written before about how women are investing at much lower rates than men. And fewer make the move to get started. If that’s you, then our new content hub for women, created in partnership with eToro, has lots of tips and ideas for every decade of our lives, covering saving for a house, prenups, childcare costs, career breaks, divorce, retirement and more. There are also interviews which share the inspirational journeys of 3 women who are now Popular Investors on the platform, with thousands around the world who quite literally follow their every move!

Have a great weekend everyone. Please come back sun… you make everything better!

Holly