The price rise is in line with January’s retail prices index (RPI) measurement of inflation, and applies to anyone who has signed up for an O2 contract since 23rd January 2014.

O2 emphasised that customers who sign up for a Refresh tariff ‒ where your bill is effectively split into two parts, one for your handset and one for your airtime ‒ will only see the price hike affect the airtime portion of the bill. 

A spokesperson for O2 said: “Our Refresh tariffs mean that this industry increase is just 36p a month on O2’s most popular plan. Unlike other operators we only apply RPI to the airtime part of our contracts on O2 Refresh, so customers are up to £50 a year better off.”   

Can I walk away?

O2 confirmed it was writing to customers this week to highlight the terms and conditions of their contract, and the fact that such increases are allowed for.

O2 contracts stipulate that the network can raise prices in line with inflation each year. As a result, while the price rise may be tough to stomach, it doesn’t entitle you to walk away from your contract without having to pay exit fees.

This isn’t the case for customers who are out of contract however. If you were on an O2 contract that has now expired, then you can switch to a new deal without any additional charges to worry about.

As a result, you could negotiate a new tariff with O2 or look to move to a new tariff with a rival provider.

Overcharging customers

The confirmation of the price rise comes on the heels of O2 being slapped with a £10.5m fine by industry regulator Ofcom.

The fine was imposed on the network following an investigation which revealed that it had overcharged customers who left O2 between 2011 and 2019, with some people hit with their final bill twice.