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Water, gas and milk are among the headline grabbers when it comes to cost rises in 2025, but trips around the island are getting more expensive too.
With a new year starting and everyone shaking off the festive dust, many are back into their normal reality today, with work shifts to complete and emails to reply to, so to help with a dose of reality, here’s everything that’s creeping up in cost.
From Wednesday (1st January) household bills for metered customers rose by around 11%, and for unmetered customers it increased by around 12%.
That means that household water and wastewater charges combined are now on average £1.65 per day or £2.44 per day for metered customers and unmetered customers respectively. In full, that would equate to £602.25 per year, and £890.60 per year respectively.
At the time of the announcement, Guernsey Water managing director Steve Langlois said that the typical customer would see water bills rise between £5 and £8 a month this year). Guernsey Water says the increases are necessary due to the impact inflation has had on the utility company.
You can read more about that here.
From Sunday, wholesale milk prices will go up by 4.4% - potentially pushing the cost of a litre over £2 in some shops. Guernsey Dairy says the price increase aligns with the Retail Prices Index (RPIX) measure of inflation.
The 4.4% wholesale price increase will be felt initially by retailers, who then determine the final price at the till. The price of milk at shops across Guernsey varies - with some recently selling a litre for as low as £1.75 with others selling for above £1.90.
In a statement before the New Year, Chairman of the Dairy Management Board, Mark Thompson had said every effort was being made to contain increases, but rising costs inevitably had to be passed on to customers.
You can read more about that here.
Pictured: Guernsey Dairy says the price increase aligns with the Retail Prices Index (RPIX) measure of inflation.
Guernsey's gas prices have risen by 10%, meaning the average household will end up paying about £9.37 a month more.
The rise follows an 8% increase that was applied in January last year, which was then increased again in May 2024, with standing charges going up by an average of £1.13 a month.
At the time of announcement, Darryl Goddard, Managing Director of Guernsey Energy said: "Geopolitical events across Europe have continued to impact the price of wholesale gas over the last 12 months."
"Energy markets are subject to a variety of complex influences which impact our supply chain and keep the cost of services that are crucial to the supply of gas high.
"We understand that tariff increases can be difficult for our customers to manage, but given these circumstances they unfortunately cannot be avoided. We're continuing to invest heavily across our network and drive forward a comprehensive maintenance programme.
Electricity tariffs went up by 10% in July - about £63 a quarter for the average domestic customer with heating - having risen by 13% the year before, and there is expected to be more to come.
To start with, fuel increased by 2.7pence per litre under the 2025 Budget, that means that currently of your cost at the petrol pump 86.8p in every litre goes to the tax man.
Alternative ways of getting around are also going up. The standard daytime bus fare is now £1.60 if using a debit card, up by 10p, and it’s £1.15 using a Puffinpass, up by 15p.
Pictured: Bus usage was significantly boosted by the Island games in 2023. In the year to October, 1,688,831 passengers were carried, compared to 1,711,309 the year before.
While for a taxi, the maximum fare went up before the Christmas period, increasing by 4.75%, and there were some other tweaks that had been made to the tariff structures. This means that a two-mile journey on Tariff 1 increased by 40p from £6.10 to £6.50, while a five-mile journey on Tariff 2 increased by £1 from £23.10 to £24.10.
The cost of an ambulance without a subscription is now closing in on the £500 mark.
Subscription costs have also risen. For 2024 a single adult went up from £59 to £63 while a child's fee rose from £27 to £29. This point also saw the price for an ambulance without a subscription rise from £420 to £447.
Jump forward a year and into 2025 and that cost for an ambulance if you do not have a subscription now sits at £471, and the subscription cost has gone up too. For an adult it now costs £68 per year, or £31 per year for children.
You can read more on these increases in the links below.
It’s going to be a bit more expensive to own your home, with property tax increasing. There’s some variation between the tariffs, but they all seem to be around the 3% mark.
For example on the lower end of the increase spectrum, a Domestic Unit on the Local Market with an area of less than 100 assessable units has gone up from £2.02 to £2.08, an increase of 2.97%. Meanwhile at the top end of the sliding scale, a Domestic Unit on the Local Market with a plan area of 500 and over assessable units has increased from £5.35 to £5.52, that’s an increase of 3.1%.
You can find out more about the TRP structure, its increases, and where you sit on it for 2025, on the States of Guernsey website here.
Inflation is expected to continue to fall, allbeit at a slower rate than seen in 2024 and above what was being experienced over the last decade..
The States predicts RPI - a measure of the prices rises being experienced by households - will be 3.6% by September this year. It currently stands at 5.1%.
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Gas prices to climb in the New Year
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