Martin Lewis tells regulator

Martin Lewis is calling on the UK’s communication regulator Ofcom to scrap the new rules it implemented in an attempt to curb mid-contract price rises for mobile and broadband customers. New research from MSE has shown the rules may have actually increased costs for many customers.

Ofcom set the new rules in place in early 2025 after millions saw their prices rise by up to 17% mid-contract, due to above-inflation linked rises. The new restrictions required providers to set out any price rises in pounds and pence at the point of sale but also allowed firms to still increase prices mid-contract so long as they gave customers 30 days to leave penalty-free after being notified. However, Martin dubbed the end result “frustratingly predictable” as he added: “It’s time to just scrap these rules and do the bleedin’ obvious – ban above inflation mid-contract price hikes!"

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New research by MSE analysed over 47,000 tariffs and found that the majority, three in every four, had higher costs under Ofcom’s new system than under the previous rules which linked cost rises to inflation. It found in almost all cases customers faced above-inflation price rises.

Those who tried to keep costs down and chose cheaper tariffs may have suffered the brunt of this change. The MoneySavingExpert founder will be giving evidence to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee on broadband, water and energy costs this afternoon, June 29.

Martin said: "This was frustratingly predictable. Let's be plain, it provisionally looks like the regulator’s intervention resulted in most contracts costing more. Transparency only goes so far, we don’t want customers overpaying just because they were told about it first.

"The solution has always been bleedin’ obvious. Just ban above-inflation mid-contract price hikes.

“Yet that risks possible market distortion, as firms may lift initial prices as a provision against unexpected costs mid-contract.”

He explained that because of this, if Ofcom implemented a ‘no rises above inflation’ rule, it could be a simple compromise and would’ve meant lower rises for over 99% of customers if it had been implemented instead of the transparency rules.

Martin continued: "There was a chance to fix this last year. The Government called Ofcom and providers around a table to write a ‘Telecoms Charter’ on the back of me and others shouting about O2’s outrageous 'price hike on a price hike'.

"Yet all that resulted in was firms promising they wouldn’t do hikes on hikes. It didn’t stop the Sky carve-out, which lets it ignore transparency rules, so long as it lets people leave within 30 days of notification.

“If that rule must stay, at the very least there should be two windows – you should be able to leave within 30 days of notification and again within 30 days after the price rise, which is when many people actually notice it. Better still though, just scrap the whole thing and ban rises above inflation."