The price of postage stamps has risen by three pence for standard letters weighing up to 100g.

The Royal Mail has increased the price of First and Second class stamps by three pence, in effect from today (6 April).

The cost of a stamp for a letter weighing up to 100g will cost 39p for First class and 30p for Second class.

For large letters, the price rise was slightly more with a First class large letter increasing by 9p to 61p and Second class going up by 5p to 47p.

The price rises were announced in December 2008 by the Royal Mail. The postal service stated that the increases were in line with the price controls set by the regulator, Postcomm.

Royal Mail’s Special Delivery Next Day service has also experienced an increase in prices with the cost rising by 35p to £4.95 for mail up to 100g.

According to the Royal Mail, the price increases will “add less than 5p to the average UK household’s weekly expenditure”. The firm also hastened to add that the price of a stamp was still considerably less than other forms of communication such as internet and telephone charges.

Despite all the prices rises, stamped mail will still make a loss for the Royal Mail as mail volumes continue to fall.

Luisa Fulci, Royal Mail’s Director of Marketing Services, said: “Our overriding priority must be to safeguard the currently loss making six-days-a-week one-price-goes-anywhere Universal Service – a task which the current market makes much harder, as big business customers choose other forms of electronic communications or competing operators instead of continuing to subsidise consumers. The change in the way people communicate is accelerating the structural decline in market volumes.”

Businesses using franking machines and pre-paid accounts will experience smaller price increases.