THOUSANDS OF Eircom customers will see their bills increase by 3.1 per cent on average and will lose two hours of off-peak calls from next month.
The changes announced by Eircom yesterday will allow affected residential customers to get out of contracts early without penalty under EU regulations.
The call connection fee for calls made outside Eircom packages will increase by almost two-thirds for home and business customers, from 5.95 cent to 9.5 cent.
Charges per call will also be rounded up to the nearest cent.
The start time for making cheaper off-peak calls will also change from 6pm to 7pm for most customers. The peak call window will widen to between 7am and 7pm from Monday to Friday.
The changes, which are being introduced from March 11th, will mean an average increase of 3.1 per cent for customers who do not stay within their call package, Eircom said.
Prices of monthly packages will stay the same, but calls made outside these plans will increase.
One-third of Eircom’s almost one million residential and small business customers do not have a package.
A spokesman for Eircom said the decision was “not taken lightly and the company had to think “long and hard about it”.
“It’s a challenge for everyone in the current economic environment. We are seeing revenues decreasing and we feel this is able to help us to generate more revenue to put into new and exciting services,” he said.
He said that customers would be unaffected if they stayed within their packages.
The change in off-peak hours from 6pm to 7pm was “significant” and would be a “big inconvenience” for many customers, Dermot Jewell of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland said.
Consumers needed to start to become aware of the change in daytime hours, he said. “For many people, 7pm will be a big inconvenience,” Mr Jewell added.
“The subtlety of the manner they introduced the increase was quite extraordinary,” he said.
Mr Jewell was also concerned that other operators would follow.
The National Consumer Agency was also “disappointed to see yet another price hike for consumers who have been hit hard recently”.
It advised consumers to compare costs on ComReg’s consumer website, callcost.ie.
Residential consumers who want to get out of their Eircom contract without penalty will have to give the company written notification within a month of being notified of the changes.
The company’s service cancellation policy has also been changed from immediate to 30 days for consumers who are not in contract.
Eircom advises customers who want to get out of their contracts to call 1901 for further details.
Affected customers with bundles can withdraw both their telephone and broadband services if they wish.
Eircom last introduced a new pricing structure in July, when customers also saw their bills rise by an average of 3 per cent.
Separately, the company’s 11811 directory enquiry prices will also increase by 31 cent from April 11th to €1.99 per minute.
