Household Bills in Penrith set Increase in April

Things are set to get tighter for Penrith households along with the rest of the UK as a number of household bills get more expensive in April. 

The cost of living crisis over the last two years has affected households across the UK with substantial increases in household bills.

But household bills and public services will again get more expensive from April 1st.

Council tax bills will increase for households in Penrith along with many other parts of the UK, along with a of other household bills including water bills, car tax to NHS dental charges and even the price of a stamp will become more expensive.

We have a round up of what’s going up for households in Penrith.

Council tax

Official data shows the average increase for 2024-25 pushed through by local authorities in England is just over 5%, said to be the largest increase in cash terms since 2003-04.

The charge for a typical band D property in England averages at £2,065. This depends on where you live and your property’s band. In Penrith, a Band D household will pay £2,314.97 a year from April. While households just up the A6 in Plumpton in a Band D paying £70 a year less at £2,245.34 heading further north along the A6 Band D households in the City of Carlisle will be paying £2,228.31 equating to £86.66 than households in Penrith.

Broadband

Broadband customers are facing a further 8% increase in April for many, adding approximately £30 a year to household broadband bills.

BT/EE, Vodafone and Three are all putting up bills by an average of 7.9%. TalkTalk it’s 7.7%. And Virgin Media/O2, is pushing through rise of up to 8.8%.

Mobile phone customers also face a typical increase of around £20 a year on their contracts.

TV License.

From 1 April the standard colour TV licence will cost an extra £10.50 making the annual licence cost £169.50.

Water Bill.

In England and Wales, the average increase is 6%, taking a typical annual bill from £445 to £473 for 2024-25, according to industry body Water UK. In Penrith and areas served by United Utilities the average household water bill for 2024/25 is £481, increase of 7.9 per cent.

NHS dental charges

From 1 April, for those able to get an appointment with an NHS dentist charges will increase in England by 4%, lifting the cost of band 1 treatments, such as a check-up, from £25.80 to £26.80 with band 2 covering treatments such as a filling rises from £70.70 to £73.50, and band 3 treatments like crowns and dentures increasing from £306.80 to £319.10.

Car Tax

The annual cost of taxing your car or van is rising from April 1st.

Most drivers of new and older cars will see the annual cost of car tax as go up by between £5 and £20. Buyers of new vehicles with the highest emissions are scheduled to pay £140 more in the first year, from April. If your existing car was first registered on or after 1 April 2017, your annual car tax will increase by £10 to £190.

For cars first registered after March 2001 and before April 2017, your bill will depend on the vehicle’s CO2 emissions with a typical family petrol car paying £305 a year.

Other Increases in April include First-class stamp with the prices set to increase by 8% for standard-size letters from Tuesday 2 April. First-class rises from £1.25 to £1.35, second-class by 13% increasing from 75p to 85p.

Locally in Penrith car parking charges in all Westmorland and Furness Council carparks will also increase from April 1st to £5.90 for all day parking or £1.70 for 1 hour. Season parking tickets are set to increase to £353.00 a year.

It’s not all bad news the introduction of lower national insurance from Saturday the 6th of April 2024 announced in the spring statement with the starting rate for National Insurance cut by 2% and the energy price cap will lower from April 1st bringing lower energy costs. 90% of households are on a standard variable tariff, with annual prices set to fall by 12% on average from Monday April 1st. 

For households without a smart meter or if your smart meter is one of the 4.3 million smart meters not working, the advice is to take a meter reading and submitting it to your energy supplier to stops your supplier from estimating your usage, and potentially assuming you've used more at the current higher rate than you actually have.