Awful April: What is happening to household bills?

A host of household bills are to rise from April 1. Here is by how much, and what you can do to cut costs.

– Council tax

Across England, the average Band D council tax in 2026/27 will be £2,392 – an increase of £111 or 4.9% on 2025-26, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government.

The figures include all additional charges, including adult social care, parish precepts and costs levied by police, fire and regional authorities where appropriate.

It is the fourth year in a row that the England-wide increase has averaged around 5%.

Single-person households qualify for a 25% discount, full-time students can be fully exempt, and those on low incomes can apply for a reduction of up to 100%. Carers and people with disabilities may also qualify. Discounts are not applied automatically, so households need to contact their council to claim.

Households can also contact their local authority to review their bill or spread payments over more months to help manage costs.

– Water

Household water bills across England and Wales are to rise by an average of 5.4%, equating to £33 a year for the average household.

There is significant regional variation in bill increases, with Severn Trent customers seeing a 10% increase, Sutton and East Surrey imposing an 11% increase, Bristol Water a 12% rise and Affinity Water (central region) customers warned they have a 13% jump coming.

Around 2.5 million households are eligible for social tariffs, with savings of around 40%.

– Broadband and mobile phone

BT, EE, Plusnet and Virgin Media are all hiking broadband prices by £4 a month, Sky by £3, and Vodafone by £3.50 – adding nearly £50 more per year to bills.

Additionally, one in four broadband customers are out of contract, paying up to £9 per month more than those in contract.

Those out of contract are free to leave and find a better deal. If you want to stay with your current provider, make contact and ask them what they can offer on a lower price.

Totally Money said “millions” of people are out of contract with their mobile phone provider, and so also free to leave and find a better deal – with some SIM only deals available for less than £5 a month.

Mobile phone customers can text ‘INFO’ to 85075 to find out if they are still in contract. If not, shop around.

– Energy

In some – albeit temporary – good news, the price most households pay for energy will fall by 7% from April 1.

Ofgem’s price cap will drop from the current £1,758 to £1,641 – a reduction of £117 or around £10 a month for the average household using both electricity and gas.

However, the reduction is lower than the average £150 cut to bills pledged by the Chancellor in November, when she moved 75% of the cost of the renewables obligation from household bills onto general taxation and scrapped the energy company obligation (Eco) scheme.

And of increasing concern is the amount energy bills could rise by from July as a result of the Middle East conflict, with latest predictions suggesting this could be by £288 a year.

The estimated 22 million households still languishing on their supplier’s Standard Variable Rate are paying the maximum allowed by the regulator. Now is the time for these households to investigate signing up to a fixed deal.