Price increases have been cropping up in the news more and more, and even if you avoid mainstream news at all costs, by now you’re bound to have heard of certain price rises.

The BBC recently reported that inflation has now reached the highest rate since 1992, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the cost of living is going to go up – if we’re aware of the main places we’re going to see rises however, we can look to reduce our spending in those areas.

The big one recently has been rising energy costs and last year we heard a lot about rising fuel prices. There have been many more peppered within the news, but what do we actually know about rising costs in 2022? Where are the definite increases?

Below, we list all of the main price rises we’re going to see in 2022, which will affect most UK households.

Price Rises in the UK in 2022

1. Energy

We may as well address the elephant in the room since it’s currently a *hot* topic, Energy prices have been steadily increasing over the last year and now the price cap in April is expected to be at 51%.

To put that in to context, if you currently pay £1,000 a year for your gas and electricity, you’ll soon be more likely to pay around £1,500 per year.

There are ways to limit your use of household items to combat the increased prices, such as cutting down on using appliances that heat up water, such as washing machines and dishwashers. There are other appliances however that consume a large amount of energy such as fridges and freezers that we simply need.

TVs, games consoles and laptops also use some of the highest amounts of energy in the home, however it may be hard to cut down on these, especially if you work from home. A top tip if you’re working off laptops though is to not leave it plugged in at the mains all day. It’s better for your laptop not to have it constantly charging too.

2. Transportation

While it’s a much lower increase than energy prices, transportation is going to go up too – for both personal vehicles and public transport.

Unless your vehicle produces CO2 emissions of 0g per km, you will likely see a car tax rise of at least an extra £10 per year.

Rail prices are expected to also rise almost 4% – this has been largely glosses over since the rise is lower than the rise in inflation. However since our wages don’t seem to rise with the increase in inflation, it’s still a big deal considering we’ll be spending more yet earning the same. Bus fares have also risen faster than wages have since 2010 and various councils have already announced small increases for their services in 2022.

3. Food

A study by Which found that average food prices across the UK’s 8 largest supermarkets rose on average by 9% when comparing December 2021 to December 2020.

The largest increases were seen across meat products, especially lamb, however this filtered down to a range of ‘every day items’ such as tinned tomatoes, semi-skimmed milk and apples.

4. Phone Bills

For a large proportion of the UK, phone bills are going to increase. BT, who also own EE and PlusNet announced price rises of over 9% for the majority of their customers. That’s an average increase of around £3.50 a month.

Vodaphone, O2 and TalkTalk will also increase their rates by similar amounts.

5. Council Tax

Council tax is set to increase for many households, as the government announced rising costs to help to pay for social care reforms.

While the increases differ by area, the average amount council tax bills are expected to rise is 3.6%.

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These increases are going to impact the majority of our readers, so how can we prepare in advance and plan ahead to minimise the price hikes? Sign up to our newsletter to receive our latest blogs with money advice, life hacks and more.