It's bad to talk with BT as third price rise in a year adds 9% to call charges

Millions of households face higher phone bills from today as the UK's biggest telecoms provider raises its charges for the third time in a year.

BT is increasing its landline costs at a time when household finances are under growing pressure from higher energy bills, rising fuel prices, the January VAT hike and government spending cuts.

The average phone bill has jumped from 183 to 217 a year following a series of price increases in recent months that have added more than 30 per cent to the costs for some families, according to comparison website uSwitch.com.

BT's daytime landline call charges are going up 9 per cent to 7.6p a minute, up from 5.4p just a year ago. Its call charges previously rose by 10 per cent in autumn last year.

The supplier's line rental cost is rising by 30p a month to 13.90, adding to previous increases of 50p and 31p in October and January respectively, but customers still paying by cash or cheque will pay 60p a month more, at 15.70. The fees for features including call waiting, caller display and call divert are edging up from 2.70 to 3 a month.

BT is not alone in implementing inflation-beating price hikes. VirginMedia's line rental charges leapt from 12.24 to 12.99 a month on 1 April, although its call charges remain unchanged.

On 1 May, TalkTalk increases its line rental costs by 2 per cent to 12.60 a month, its daytime call rate from 6.54p to 7.6p and its call set-up fee from 11.14p to 12.5p per call. Sky is changing its prices on 20 June, but the details have not yet been released.

Some providers have also trimmed their free call periods, with BT, Sky and TalkTalk last year pushing the start of their evening off-peak periods back an hour to 7pm.

Mike Wilson, mobile and broadband manager at comparison website moneysupermarket.com, said: "We have seen a lot of price movement in the landline market recently and unfortunately for consumers most of the moves have been to increase the cost of having and using a home phone line."

Some experts believe more rises could arrive this year, as suppliers pass on the cost of providing broadband in rural areas.