Broadband and Phone - Annual CPI price changes

Every April, we review the price of our products and services (including your plan charges) according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation plus up to 3%,lower than the current price rise commitments of other major providers.

When we work out our prices, we use the December CPI rate, published in January. For example, if you’re paying £30 per month, and the CPI figure is 2%, we may apply an increase of up to 5%. At 5%, your monthly price would increase to £31.50 on or after 1 April. This annual price review is part of your terms and conditions.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of whether the cost of goods and services is going up or down, based on average price changes from across several industries. The CPI rate is a figure released by the Office for National Statistics. A new CPI rate is published each month. There’s lots more information available on the Office for National Statistics website.

CPI is a widely recognised measure of the general level of inflation. Several industries use it as a guide on whether to adjust prices and by how much. Shell Energy, like other providers, adopts CPI for all annual price rises on our broadband and phone products.

These price increases apply to all Shell Energy Broadband and Phone customers and are detailed in your terms and conditions.

Our broadband, line rental, call plans, features and all call charges may go up in price in line with CPI plus up to 3% on or after 1 April, every year from April 2023.

On or after 1 April every year, we'll take the CPI percentage rate published by the Office for National Statistics in January that year and add up to 3% to the rate. We'll increase the monthly price of broadband, line rental, call plans, features and call charges by the total percentage figure.

If the published CPI figure is negative, we may only increase your prices by up to 3% in the relevant year. If you have more than one service with us and each is subject to the price increase, the amount of the increase is calculated separately for each service.

Here's an example to show how the price rise works:

Let's say you have Fast Broadband with the Anytime calls and your monthly price is made up of:

Assuming that the CPI rate published in January would be 2%, the total increase would be up to 5% (2% plus up to 3%)

This is how we would work out your new price:

What about changes to call charges?

Some call charges will also go up in price in line with CPI plus up to 3% on or after 1 April each year.. Here's an example to show how call charge price increases work:

Assuming that the CPI rate published in January would be 2%, the total increase would be up to 5% (2% plus up to 3%)

If your price is changing, we’ll take any discounts you get into account when calculating your new prices and some of these may be adjusted to reflect your new price.

We’ll be writing to all customers before April each year to inform them how the price change will apply to them.

Rest assured, we’ll always provide you with at least 30 days’ notice before any price rise takes place.

If we're only changing our prices in line with the CPI plus up to 3% and you choose to cancel because of that, you'll still need to pay early termination charges if you're still within your minimum term.

This is because your terms and conditions allow us to increase your charges by an amount not exceeding any increase in CPI plus up to 3%.

If we put up our prices by an amount greater than this, or if we put up our prices for any other reason, or make any change that isn’t to your benefit, purely administrative or required by law, then you’ll be able to cancel your contract without paying any early termination charges.

Our customers are relying on our broadband and phone network more than ever. To keep up with demand we’re investing heavily in our products and services. And like other broadband and phone companies, our costs are rising too.

Annual price reviews allow us to continue offering some of the great features we know our customers value, such as unlimited usage as standard on all our broadband packages, and free landline calls between all Shell Energy Broadband and Phone customers.

We understand price changes can be worrying, which is why we implemented an annual price review rather than ad-hoc price increases.

We believe our annual price increase policy is fairer than those of a number of major broadband providers. See an example of how we compare below: