• UW CEO Stuart Burnett: “Millions of people are still getting shortchanged by their supplier despite Ofcom’s attempts to reform the system.”

• Warning comes as suppliers get ready to roll out one-touch switching on Thursday (12 September) to make changing broadband provider easier and quicker

• UW doesn’t impose annual built-in price rises and has just launched lightning-fast Full Fibre 900 – 24 times faster than UW’s standard broadband - and with a rock-solid promise: no mid-contract price rises, ever

10th September - Ofcom’s new rules aimed at tackling mid-contract price rises risk falling short and could shake consumer trust in the market, the CEO of Utility Warehouse (UW) warned today.

Stuart Burnett, whose company serves over 1 million customers across all its services, including 375,000 broadband users, has called on Ofcom to crack down harder on annual built-in price increases in broadband contracts. He warned that many households were at risk of being ripped off.

The warning comes as the industry gears up for the launch of one-touch switching on Thursday (12 September). Mr Burnett said that while he welcomed one-touch switching to make it easier and faster for people to switch providers, the ability of suppliers to still increase prices mid-contract left many consumers in the dark on the true cost of their broadband bill.

UW doesn’t impose annual built-in price increases and this week launched lightning-fast Full Fibre 900 - cheaper than many mainstream suppliers and 24 times faster than UW’s standard Ultra broadband tariff - making it UW’s fastest broadband so far.

Mr Burnett said: “We’ve never hit our customers with sneaky mid-contract price rises. However, millions of people with other suppliers are still at risk of getting shortchanged despite Ofcom’s attempts to reform the system. We believe Ofgem needs to tighten up the rules to protect consumers, and those stung by these surprise extra charges should ditch their supplier and shop elsewhere.”

With 11 million UK households hit by mid-contract price rises, UW’s analysis shows these customers are coughing up an extra £26.8 million every month—that’s over £321 million a year*.

In a letter to Ofcom’s CEO Dame Melanie Dawes, Mr Burnett said the regulator's decision to continue to allow built-in price increases was disappointing and the new rules didn't go far enough. 

Mr Burnett said: “We are against the principle of built-in annual price increases, irrespective of whether the increase is based on fixed amounts, percentages, inflation or inflation-plus. It is not something we have ever done, because we believe opaque pricing practices, such as built-in annual price increases, are misleading, unfair to our customers and contribute to confusion and potentially, to financial strain.”

Mr Burnett stressed in the letter that the new rules still placed too much burden on consumers to sift through confusing contracts. He said: “I am concerned that permitting built-in price increases will perpetuate a system where the consumer has to navigate complex pricing structures, in addition to other non-price related information. Further, it may encourage providers to offer cheap tariffs for an initial period and then significantly increase that tariff in a way that will always be less prominent than the headline price. This may ultimately undermine consumer trust in the market.” 

And questioning whether Ofcom’s decision to allow providers to include pricing information in the contract summary would improve consumer awareness of contract charges, Mr Burnett highlighted that the new rules would continue to put “a heavy onus on consumers to engage with a substantial amount of information and understand its future implications.” 

UW is committed to working with industry bodies and other suppliers on the issue of mid-contract price rises so consumers have greater pricing transparency and confidence in the market. 

To sign up to UW’s new Full Fibre 900 tariff visit https://uw.co.uk/broadband

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