Six huge bill hikes are coming in April with the rises falling into place in a few weeks for almost everyone across the country. Homeowners face paying more for everything from gas and electricity to water and broadband – as well as council tax and stamp duty.
It comes as food prices are currently going up a rate of 3.3% and The British Retail Consortium has said it expects foodinflationto hit 4% by the second half of the year. Petrol prices have also hit a six-month high with drivers now paying £3 more a time to fill a tank.
And there have been warnings of substantial job cuts and prices rises after April when the Government’s new higher rate of National Insurance contributions for employers comes into force.
Here are the six big price rises you need to know about:
Gas and electricity
Ofgem has increased the energy price cap from April 1, 2025, meaning energy suppliers can charge you more for each unit of gas and electricity you use, This will add an average of £111 a year to energy bills from April 1, bringing them to £1,849 for an average home.
You can avoid the hike by switching to a fixed-rate tariff now. A fixed rate tariff does not go up when the energy price changes. But 22million homes are on a variable rate tariff and will see bills jump from April 1.
Energy switching experts Uswitch say locking in to the cheapest deal now could save you £140 a year. Visit a price comparison site to look for your cheapest option. You can also cut bills using simple measures such as insulation and making sure you don’t leave appliances on standby.
Regulator Ofgem said it increased the cap in response to a recent surge in wholesale prices.
The cap is set every three months and limits the amount suppliers can charge for each unit of gas and electricity, but not the total bill, so if you use more, you will pay more.
Standing charges – daily fixed fees to connect to a gas and electricity supply which vary by region – are rising again for gas but dropping for electricity, but it depends on where you live.
Water
The average water bill in England and Wales will go up by £10 a month from April 1. The exact amount it is going up will depend on your supplier.
The average bill across the country will be £603 a year, up from £480 a year. But some homes will see their bills jump to more than £700 a year with rises of close to 50%. You need to check with your supplier to find the exact increase for you. Homes not currently on a water meter could save £100 a year by having one installed.
Regulator Ofwat has allowed companies to raise average bills by £31 a year, or £157 in total, over the next five years to £597 by 2030 to help finance a £104 billion upgrade for the sector.
That represents a 36% increase before inflation, which will be added on top.
However, despite the average £31-a-year rise, households will be hit particularly hard from April with an average increase of £86 or 20% front-loaded into the coming year, with smaller percentage increases in each of the next four years.
Council tax
Another more than £100 a year is being added to council tax bills across the country. Each local authority is different, but most are applying the full 4.99% increase.
Some authorities have the power to apply a 10% or 15% increase – meaning potentially much more than the average £106 increase. You can check online to make sure your home is in the right band for council tax at gov.uk/council-tax-bands. If you lower your band you will pay less.
You could also cut your bill by 25% if you live alone. Contact your local council to check.Analysis by PA in February found that, among the 139 top-tier authorities in England that had proposed or confirmed increases, 85% were planning a rise just short of 5%.
For 2025-26, the Government is allowing Bradford, Newham, Birmingham, Somerset, and Windsor and Maidenhead to bypass the 4.99% cap, meaning they could raise council tax by more.
Car tax
The rules on who pays car tax and how much change from April 1. Owners of new petrol and diesel cars face an increase of £220 to £440 a year. Older cars – registered between March 2001 and March 2017 will now carry an extra £5 to £25 a year charge on average.
Newer electric cars that were exempt will now cost owners £195 a year. Brand new electric cars will cost owners just £10 in the first year before going to the full rate – but cars that cost over £40,000 will cost you £425 a year after year two.
Broadband, phone and TV
Mid-contract price rises are coming in April for many broadband and phone users, adding up to 7.5% to your bills. If your contract started after last April the increase could be £3 a month or £3.50.
You can switch to a different supplier if you are out of contract, or negotiate a new deal with your current supplier.
The majority of customers who took out a contract before April 10 2024 will face an increase of 6.4%, based on the inflation rate last December and an additional charge.
The cost of a TV licence will also go up by £5 to £174.50, and for a black and white TV it will go up by £1.50 to £58.50.
Stamp duty
From April 1, stamp duty will become more expensive for some home-buyers. Under the changes, the current “nil rate” band for first-time buyers will reduce from £425,000 to £300,000, while other home-buyers will also see a reduction from £250,000 to £125,000. Stamp duty applies in England and Northern Ireland.
Property website Rightmove has estimated that a total of nearly 74,000 home-movers in England will just miss the March 31 deadline to get the bigger stamp duty discounts and complete in April.
Home-movers just missing the deadline and completing in April rather than by March 31 will pay a combined £142 million more in stamp duty payments than they would have paid if they had completed their home purchase before the deadline, the website has calculated.
Santander UK recently said it recorded a 130% increase in mortgage applications in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared with the same period a year earlier, as some home-buyers sought to potentially save themselves thousands of pounds in stamp duty costs.
In the South East of England, where the average house price is £385,600, first-time buyers could potentially save up to £4,280 in stamp duty by purchasing before April 1, based on typical property values, Santander said.
In London, an average first-time buyer could end up paying more than £11,000 extra from April, it calculated. Based on an average house price of £535,700, Santander calculated that a first-time buyer faces paying £5,535 currently, compared with £16,785 from April.
Stealth taxes
Frozen income tax thresholds could mean that some people get pushed into higher tax brackets as and when they get a pay rise. More people could also be pushed into paying tax on their savings, by breaching the personal savings allowance, which is £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers.
People do not have long left to fill gaps going back to 2006 that could boost their state pension. They have until April 5 to check their national insurance (NI) record and fill any gaps stretching as far back as April 6 2006.
From April 6 2025, people will only be able to make voluntary NI contributions for the previous six tax years, in line with normal time limits.