Royal Mail has introduced a new surcharge which could have an impact on costs for customers this Christmas.

From today, business account customers will be asked to pay a new 2p green surcharge. The new green surcharge is designed to help fund Royal Mail's decarbonisation measures. Royal Mail says the surcharge is applied to the product price after any discounts or commissions or other surcharges, and before VAT.

The new surcharges do not directly impact regular customer prices, but concerns have arisen that businesses will pass on the extra costs. The new green surcharge will apply against:

  • Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am, 1pm and end of the day Sunday
  • Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48
  • Royal Mail 24 and Royal Mail 48
  • Special Delivery Guaranteed Returns
  • Royal Mail Tracked Returns

Alongside this, business account customers will also be asked to pay an additional peak surcharge of 5p for letters and 10p for parcels later this month. The peak surcharge is brought in every year with Royal Mail saying it helps them at their "busiest time". This year the surcharge will be introduced on November 20 and will run until January 7 2024.

Sarah Coles, personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, told The Sun: "Online retailers are having to contend with rising prices on all sides, so they’re highly unlikely to take these extra charges on the chin. It’s going to be passed onto shoppers, who can expect to see the cost of Christmas keep on rising."

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "Christmas is our busiest time of year and we invest in thousands of additional staff, more vehicles and additional parcel sorting sites to manage around double the normal volumes of parcels. Other parcel carriers already apply a similar surcharge during the Christmas period."

Last month, Royal Mail upped the price of its first class stamps again. The move - which was the second time Royal Mail increased its prices this year - meant the price of a first class stamp now costs £1.25. Second-class stamps for standard letters however remained at their current price of 75p.

Royal Mail blamed the most recent hikes on the increasing cost pressures and universal service obligation. This currently requires it to deliver letters to all UK addresses six days a week.