The price of Chinese made DVD players may be dropping but with all these rises in the pipeline and wage increases held at 2 or 3% (for us plebs anyway) does this mean a big drop in living standards in the UK ?...............................
2006 The year of rising pricesMillions of people return to work today after the holiday to an unhappy New Year of soaring rail fares and spiralling household bills.
Train operators enforced what a rail watchdog called "eye-watering" increases of up to nine per cent yesterday and about 11 million homes were hit on New Year's Day by a 12 to 14 per cent rise in their gas and electricity bills.
More bad news is on the way with a jump in the cost of telephone rentals, higher postal charges and a major increase in council tax.
The Russian gas crisis raises the likelihood of another round of fuel price increases next month or in March. The Government admitted that the dispute between Russia and Ukraine could affect supplies.
There are also fears that the price of oil could rise further after last year's 60 to 70 per cent leap.
Business leaders are worried that constantly rising household bills are undermining consumer confidence and could result in tougher pay bargaining.
Leading employers have been budgeting for pay rises of two to three per cent but acknowledge that they will be under pressure to concede bigger increases at a time when the economy is slowing.
The National Consumer Council said: "All consumers will see the effects of these price rises but, added together, the increases will hit the poorest hardest."
The cost of rail travel rose by an average of 4.5 per cent for ordinary fares and 3.9 per cent for season tickets.
Passengers using GNER trains faced an 8.9 per cent rise, while the cost of a single London Tube fare rose from £2 to £3.
Describing the rises as "eye-watering", Anthony Smith, the chief executive of the Rail Passengers Council, said: "The rail industry is going to have to work hard to demonstrate that these rises represent value for money."
Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT rail union, said: "The train operators are shamelessly using their monopolies to maximise profits on premium routes."
Fuel bills, up by a third in two years, are expected to rise again. Industry analysts say that the volatility in the markets and the uncertainty created by Russia's action in cutting off supplies to Ukraine make the outlook bleak.
Domestic gas prices rose by up to 40 per cent last year while electricity was almost 30 per cent dearer as suppliers wasted little time in passing on the largely oil-influenced rise in the cost of energy.
Analysts estimate that gas bills could rise by a further 20 per cent this year but some companies may be considering bigger increases for domestic customers.
Centrica, the British Gas parent company, is studying proposals for a new round of increases. It says that customers who have signed its offer of a price freeze until 2010 will not be affected.
The 11 million people hit by the New Year's Day fuel rises are customers of Npower and Scottish & Southern Energy.
Ministers are trying to soften up domestic customers to further rises. Britain is now a net importer of gas and Malcolm Wicks, the energy minister, said the country could be importing 90 per cent of its gas needs by 2020.
Suppliers, who are under pressure from the Government as well as customers, have been attempting to underpin the security of their supplies with new contracts with Norway and the development of extra facilities to handle imports of liquid gas for reprocessing.
There is little sign that the end of the Royal Mail's 350-year postal monopoly on Sunday will bring price cuts for domestic customers.
Postal charges will be overhauled in April, with customers being charged on the size rather than the weight of letters.
A 50p-a-month increase in BT telephone rentals to £11 this week is expected to be cushioned by competition and other tariff changes.
Householders face a further jump in council tax in April. Ministers are describing forecasts of a 10 per cent rise as too pessimistic but London householders face a double blow in the shape of the mayor Ken Livingstone's Olympics and police budget as well as increases from their own councils.