Starting in October, Comcast cable will join a multitude of other commodities that are becoming increasingly expensive.

“Price adjustments are a necessity in view of the increased cost of doing business in this challenging economic environment, including gas prices, health care costs, increases in the cost we pay for programming and technology and service improvements,” Vice President of Communications Steve Kipp said.

The average price increase for Whidbey Island’s Comcast subscribers will amount to a 3.7 percent jump in monthly rates.

The rate increases continue to be “well under the rate of inflation,” Kipp said. “In fact, we offer the lowest priced basic video service among our competitors.”

Also contributing to the rate hike is an increase in high definition TV choices and investments to allow for the largest selection of video on demand.

“The company spends about $6 billion a year on programming to give our customers the best content and the most video choices,” he said.

The last price increase occurred in November 2007, following the typical pattern of annual rate increases, said Kipp.

While rates vary from market to market, the limited-basic package is the only service that is regulated on the city level.

The remaining package rates are controlled by the Federal Communications Commission, but are otherwise unregulated.