By JIMMY LAWTON

Time Warner Cable internet customers will see an average increase of $3 in their August statements.

Joli Plucknette-Farmen, communications manager at Time Warner, said the increase will only affect customers paying retail prices for internet service.

"About 60 percent of customers are not affected because they receive promotional pricing," she said.

The company’s most popular internet package of 15 Megabits per second (Mbps) currently costs $51.99 per month. She said that would increase to $54.99 in August.

Plucknette-Farmen would not share further details on fees associated with any of the other packages provided by Time Warner, because it’s “complicated.”

"(The fee increase) completely depends on the package. We think the average of $3 is best way to describe the increase because that's what most customers, who are affected, will see," she said.

Promotional prices listed on the company’s website range from as low as $19.99 per month to $74.99 per month.

Plucknette-Farmen would not provide retail prices.

Plucknette-Farmen said the fee increase will provide additional funding for the ongoing service upgrades to keep up with growing demand.

"This is really about us continuing to invest in our infrastructure so we can provide high quality service," she said.

She said Time Warner recently increased its standard package from 10 Mbps to 15 Mbps at no charge to customers.

"Another reason that the price is going up is the increase in bandwidth. Our customers are using their internet service more than ever before," she said.

Plucknette-Farmen said light internet users have an opportunity to save money, through the company's "Essentials Internet" plan. This service allows customers to choose a lower data allotment and at a lower price point based on usage.

The Essentials option is available on Lite, Basic and Standard Internet plans. Plucknette-Farmen said customers who limit usage to 5 gigabytes a month can receive an $8 discount and customers who limit use to 30 gigabytes a month can receive a $5 discount through the "Essentials" plan,

She said customers can check their usage anytime on the company's website twc.com/myservices.

The new fees will be applied in August.