Amazon has said it will increase the price of Prime membership, which includes access to Amazon Prime Video, by £1 a month starting in September. 

The decision was not entirely unexpected given that Amazon had already raised prices in the U.S. back in February. At the same time, Amazon’s rivals in the video streaming space, such as Netflix, have also increased costs. 

At the time it raised U.S. prices, Amazon insisted it had no plans to repeat the increase in the U.K. “at this time”. However, the company has clearly decided that times have changed, with rising inflation and operating costs in the U.K. both cited as factors behind its reasoning to raise prices. 

The increase will take effect from September 15, when monthly fees will rise from £7.99 to £8.99. Those who pay annually for their subscription will see the price rise by £16, from £79 to £95 when their next renewal comes around. 

That amounts to an annual increase of 20%, but if that seems steep then thank the lucky stars you don’t live in France, where Amazon Prime membership is set to increase by 43%, or Germany, which will see a price hike of 30%. 

Amazon Prime is a service that allows customers to benefit from free one- or two-day shipping on select products purchase from Amazon.com. It also provides access to Prime Video and the Amazon Music streaming services.

The U.K. price increase is slightly higher than the 17% hike forced onto U.S. consumers, but we should note that this represents the first time Amazon has increased the cost of Prime subscriptions here since 2014. The company says it has around 27 million subscribers in the U.K. 

“We continue to focus on making Prime even more valuable for members. This is the first time we have changed the price of Prime in the UK since 2014,” the company said in a statement to Reuters. “During this time, we have significantly increased the number of products available with unlimited, fast Prime delivery; added and expanded ultra-fast fresh grocery delivery; and added more high-quality digital entertainment, including TV, movies, music, games, and books.”

Amazon has indeed been splashing the cash of late. Its upcoming Lord of the Rings series was produced with a stunning £750 million budget, rivaling Netflix’s The Crown as the most expensive TV series ever made. At the same time, Amazon has spent millions to secure streaming rights to English Premier League and UEFA Champions League football games. In addition, it recently spent $8 billion to acquire the iconic film studio MGM, which will soon start churning out exclusive content for Amazon Prime. 

Amazon Prime itself has recently received a major facelift, with a friendlier user-interface that makes it easier to surface new content. 

Of course, the price increase comes at a time when many people have been attempting to cut back on their costs due to factors like inflation. With the rising costs of living, a lot of consumers have decided that streaming services are no longer an essential “must have” offering. That explains why Netflix lost over a million subscriber globally during the last quarter. 

With Netflix now said to be launching a cheaper, ad-supported service to try and win those customers back, the pressure will increase on Amazon to ensure that customers feel the Prime service is worth the increased cost.