Why is my bill higher than normal?

In this article

Your phone bill may include charges outside of your monthly plan for example if you've upgraded, added another line to your account, called a premium number or had a one-off or partial charge. VAT charges and deposits may also show on your phone bill.

What are the call or text charges on my bill?

What are the call or text charges on my bill?

Some numbers aren't included in your plan and when calling certain numbers you’ll be charged an access charge and a service charge. Chargeable numbers include:

  1.  

    070, 084, 087, 09 numbers
  2.  

    118 (directory enquiries)
  3.  

    forwarding numbers (unless the number starts with 0207 or 0208)
  4.  

    calls outside the EU (known as roaming)
  5.  

    charges from other companies (third party service providers)

You may also get charged for texts that aren't included in your plan:

  1.  

    photo messages (including photos, videos and other images)
  2.  

    texts inside or outside the EU (known as roaming)
  3.  

    text charges from other companies (third party service providers)

Why have I been charged for photo messages?

Why have I been charged for photo messages?

Photo messages aren’t included in your standard plan and there’s a fixed price for each one you send. Some devices may classify a text message as a photo message because it includes an emoji, exceeds the character limit or is group text message.

Good to know:

You can find out more about why some devices convert text messages to photo messages and how you can manage your device to make sure you're not accidentally sending photo messages.

> Find out more about photo messages

These charges will appear on your bill in the photo messages section. Sending a photo message instead of a text message is down to the device you use, the messaging platform you use and the person you’re sending to. It’s not because of the EE network.

If you send a lot of these types of messages you may want to buy an add-on which will give you an allowance every month to send photo messages at reduced rates.

  1.  

    log in to My EE
  2.  

    go to Menu > Plans and add-ons or Menu > Packs and add-ons

What are the one-off charges and credits on my bill?

What are the one-off charges and credits on my bill?

Occasionally there will be one-off charges and credits on your monthly phone bill that will appear under extra charges. The most common one-off charges are:

  1.  

    add-ons: such as extra data or roaming add-ons when you’re abroad
  2.  

    collections service charge: charge for at least two late payments
  3.  

    bill re-issue charge: for providing a printed copy of your bill
  4.  

    payment failure charge: for a failed Direct Debit or unpaid cheque
  5.  

    insurance excess fee: the charge applied for your insurance claim in line with the Terms & Conditions for insurance and extended warranty
  6.  

    remaining contract charge - either:

    • an early termination charge – you'll need to pay this if you're within your minimum contract term and have more than 30 days left until it ends. The amount is calculated from the date you contacted us to cancel your contract until the end of your minimum term
    • a notice period charge – you'll need to pay this if you're within the last 30 days of your minimum term or outside of it. This is based on 30 days line rental from the date you contacted us to cancel your contract

Please note: if you started your contract with EE on or after 1 March 2017, you might see a 'Price Rise Discount' on your bill. This is to ensure your bill is at the price you agreed for your contract. It will appear on every bill for the rest of your contract.

What are the device charges and credits on my bill?

What are the device charges and credits on my bill?

If you’ve upgraded, unlocked your device or paid towards a new device on your plan, you may see some one-off charges on your monthly phone bill: 

  1.  

    delivery charge: an amount to pay towards the delivery of your device
  2.  

    equipment charge: usually shown as the device – e.g. 'pay monthly iPhone 6 16GB gold' with the amount you owe for the device
  3.  

    device unlock charge: when you’ve paid to get your device unlocked
  4.  

    equipment credit: if you’re owed an amount towards your device

> Find out more about understanding your bill after an upgrade

What are the partial charges on my bill?

What are the partial charges on my bill?

You may see partial charges on your phone bill if you make a change to your account partway through your billing month. These partial charges will appear if:

  1.  

    you've upgraded
  2.  

    you've bought an add-on halfway through the month
  3.  

    you've changed your price plan, device plan or phone number
  4.  

    you've changed your bill payment date
  5.  

    you’ve added another line to your account (phone, tablet, SIM or dongle)

Here are some of the partial charges you may see on your phone bill:

  1.  

    a refund of the old plan or your old number (up to your bill date) 
  2.  

    a charge for your new plan, number or line (up to your bill date) 
  3.  

    a charge for your new plan, number or line (equal to a month in advance)
Good to know:

Your monthly charging periods should be back to normal next month, provided there are no further changes to your account.

> Find out more about understanding your bill after an upgrade

What are the other EE services on my bill?

What are the other EE services on my bill?

If you’ve bought something from your device's app store and it appears on your phone bill, it’s because the item has been charged to your EE account instead of to your debit or credit card directly. These might appear on your phone bill as:

  1.  

    content billing
  2.  

    operator billing
  3.  

    pay-per-event
  4.  

    charge to bill

Amounts over £15 will be charged to your credit or debit card not your EE account.

If you have any questions about your app purchases, you'll need to contact your device app store or the app developer directly. To prevent any further unwanted purchases from app charging, we suggest you set up a PIN on your app store account.

Good to know:

Any refunds for apps you’ve bought will be given to you as credit to spend on future apps, not as a credit for your EE bill.

What are the VAT charges on my bill?

What are the VAT charges on my bill?

The breakdown of charges on your phone bill is always shown without VAT. The VAT charge is then calculated under VAT on the first page of your monthly phone bill.

VAT is calculated on most charges but there are some exceptions:

  1.  

    early termination charges (if you need to end your contract early)
  2.  

    usage outside of the VAT territory of the EU
  3.  

    insurance services
  4.  

    some content and add-on services, such as premium rate numbers

Please note: any charges on your account not subject to VAT will show on the first page of your monthly phone bill as VAT charged at zero per cent or VAT-exempt.

What deposits are shown on my bill?

What deposits are shown on my bill?

We might ask you to pay a security deposit depending on the result of your credit check so you can use the EE network or activate certain services on your account.

There are two types of security deposits you could be asked to pay: 

  1.  

    registration deposit: we might request this when you want to join EE so we can activate your account and you can use the network
  2.  

    feature deposit: we might request this when you activate certain services, like Full Roaming, International Call or Premium Rate Calls

Both types of deposit will be quoted on your bill as 'Deposit for Service'.

Your deposit will be automatically refunded back to you via your normal payment method once you've established a good payment history with us.

> Find out more about security deposits

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