TELECOM provider BT has hardly been slow to bump up prices for long-suffering regular customers in recent years and this winter it is set to push them even higher.

Although a powerful media campaign – Sunshine Deals – currently offers BT Total broadband and unlimited UK calls for £16 a month, BT is poised on December 3 to raise the monthly line rental for customers from £13.90 to £14.60, following an earlier rise from £12.79 in April.

Charges will also rise for the cost of daytime calls, the cost of the popular Anytime package and the call connection fee.

Other suppliers may well follow in BT’s slipstream, as shown with price increases last year and earlier this year.

Households facing acute financial pressures may wonder if they could get better value for their money.

Michael Phillips, product director at Ofcom-accredited price comparison site Homephonechoices.co.uk, says: ‘‘It is easy to forget about a particular home service once it is up and running. As long as the service they pay for works, busy people are often not motivated to switch for a long time – until something goes wrong and they move due to a complaint situation.”

Although more people are discovering the benefits of switching, the number who actually do so remains woefully low.

A survey by Simplifydigital.com, an Ofcom-accredited advisory service for TV, broadband and phone deals, found that bundling services from a single provider could make savings of more than £400 a year.

Yet analysis of BT’s latest quarterly results suggests the company has some 10.3 million active consumer lines (including Plusnet) paying anything from £10 (line rental only) to more than £40 (telephone, broadband, TV bundle) per month, as well as the cost of calls.

Consumers who do their homework make impressive savings: the Line Rental Saver tariff, paid in advance for 12 months’ line rental costs £120, while those paying per month from December pay £175.

That’s £55 extra, for an identical service.

Research by Homephonechoices.co.uk also found that many customers see quality of service and price as equally important, along with different suppliers’ ability to bundle their TV and broadband services.

The list of tips from Homephonechoices.co.uk to cut your bill includes:

• Try to haggle a better deal from an existing supplier.

Even when you don’t want to leave, you might still be able to get a better deal. Negotiate with customer services and, if necessary, mention you are thinking of leaving. You may find they are prepared to reduce the price in order to keep you.

• Pay by direct debit. Nearly all providers discourage payment other than direct debit and impose charges of anything up to £5 per month for dealing with cheques. However, The Post Office accepts payment by various means with no additional charges.

• Avoid hidden costs – there are many sneaky fees you need to keep an eye on. You may incur an installation fee, or be charged for things like retrieving your answer machine messages, so always be clear on what you have to pay for before signing a contract.

• Go for paperless billing – some providers offer useful savings if you receive your statements online, not by post. You’ll also be doing your bit for the environment.

• Check the small print – if you’re tied to a 12 or 18-month contract, you may be faced with exit fees if you want to switch before the contract term ends. New rules have been introduced to reduce these fees but weigh up the difference and make sure it is still worth switching.

• Beware mobile costs. Calling mobile phones is a universal burden nowadays, so be sure to check how much it will cost you per minute to call a mobile from your landline; costs vary hugely between providers.

• Consider calling pack addons.

If you have specific needs from your service, for example if you make a lot of calls to international numbers, it may be worth getting a suitable calling plan add-on to keep a lid on those costs.

• Optimise your calling. If you have free mobile-to-mobile minutes on a contract, then use these to call other mobiles.

Use your landline to call landlines and 0870 numbers (as some providers include these).

• Pay annually – customers who pay upfront for the whole year can save even more money. When paying by lump sum, Primus, BT and Sky’s monthly line rental payments come down by around £30 to £40 per year.