Around one million Sky customers will see their bills rise from April, with price hikes as high as £72 for some customers.

TV and broadband customers will see an increase in monthly costs from April 1, while landline customers will see rises from 1 May. On average, customers will see their monthly expenses rise by around £3 a month, however some could see their costs rise by the maximum - £72 a year - with customers to be notified this week.

Sky predicts around one million of its 12 million customers will be affected by the increase and will notify customers by 27 March if they are seeing a price rise.

Sky Broadband Essential is one of the highest rising plans. Customers on this tariff will see their bills rise from £22 a month to £25.

However, Sky Sports, Sky Cinema, Sky Kids and Sky Talk Evening and Weekends Extra customers won't be affected.

How to keep your Sky bills down

The problem Sky customers have is that any yearly price rises in April - and they happen every year - are that these price rises are included in the terms and conditions of the contract you signed when you took out your package.

Most Sky packages last between 18 and 24 months, meaning unless you are coming to the end of your contract there is not much you can do to beat the price rise.

However, if you are nearing the end of your contract, or you want to renegotiate your current contract then there are some things you can do.

I was coming to the end of my Sky TV and broadband contract at the beginning of 2021. The contract includes Sky's standard TV package, SkyQ multiscreen with a second box to watch Sky in a second room, and the full Sky Sports package.

Sky had offering a discounted rate for the first 18 months of the contract but the price had risen from around £50 per month to £88 once that initial promotion period expired.,

Logging in to the Sky website was pretty useless - you can only add packages to your deal and there are not any options to remove them. It's not a very customer friendly experience when you want to save some money.

Call them

The first step was to call Sky's customer service representatives on 0333 7591 018. You will need your account details and passwords. The rules here are simple - be nice and friendly. Customer service representatives will be a lot more open to helping you if you are being nice to them.

However, here is where you need to hold your nerve. Sky tend to offer new customers better deals than existing customers so go in armed with information on their latest offers. You can compare your deal with these and ask for a similar deal.

The next bit of advice is important: do not be afraid to ask for the deal you want. The most important thing they can do is say no.

It may be that the customer representative can't give you the deal or discount you want. Do not be afraid to end the conversation if it's not going how you want. Phone representatives deal with a large amount of calls each day and may not be fully focused on getting you the best deal possible.

Plan B

If you have called Sky and still haven't got a discount there is one more option. I had to do this and it worked a treat.

Head back to the online help centre and use the chat. Choose the options for 'I want to cancel my contract' and once connected tell them you are thinking of cancelling your contract.

Be patient - it took me an hour of chat because the replies are so slow. I politely explained the difference in price offered by BT and Virgin for the same package and eventually Sky offered me a contract at a lower price than I am currently paying with BT Sport thrown in too.

It's a long, drawn-out process but never be afraid to walk away if Sky is not offering a reasonable option. If you are coming to the end of your contract then remember you hold the cards and Sky wants to retain you - loyal customers are the bread and butter for the company and they will offer you discounts to keep you on as long as you talk to the correct person.