Three Ireland announces annual 4.5% increase in bill pay charges

Mobile phone company Three Ireland will increase the monthly charge on its bill pay price plans annually by 4.5 per cent, starting from next April, it has announced.

The new system means a customer on its 3 Bill Pay 100 plan who currently pays a €35 monthly charge will see that sum increase to €36.58 in April 2022.

The charge will subsequently rise to €38.22 until April 2023, and will continue to rise by an additional 4.5 per cent, effective from every April thereafter.

If the first bill of a customer’s minimum term falls in March, their charge will not increase the month after, but in April of the following year.

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The change applies to new customers who join Three after November 30th as well as to customers who are upgrading their plan or signing a new contract after this date.

Three Ireland's move follows Vodafone Ireland's plan to implement a system of annual increases.

In July, Vodafone said new bill pay customers, and those upgrading or renewing their contracts, would see charges increase annually based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation, plus an additional 3 per cent.

This will apply from April each year. If the CPI rate is negative, the price increase will be 3 per cent.

Vodafone plans to take the January rate of inflation as the basis for the price increases implemented from April. The latest official rate for the Irish economy, for October, is 5.1 per cent.