Since 2017, Costco has increased its membership fee.

• In the U.S. and Canada, Costco is increasing its annual membership fees by $5 and raising the price of its premium membership by $10.
• It's the first increase since 2017.
• To maintain low prices, Costco depends on membership fees, similar to its competitors Sam's Club and BJ's.

You'll soon have to pay more if you want to shop at .

The membership-based warehouse club announced on Wednesday that it will raise its membership fee by $5 in the U.S. and Canada starting September 1. This means that annual memberships will now cost $65 instead of $60. Additionally, the "Executive Membership" plan will now cost $130 per year, up from $120.

Approximately 52 million Costco memberships, or roughly half of them, will be impacted by the fee increase.

Shares rose about 2% in extended trading Wednesday.

Since June 2017, Costco has not raised its membership rate. On average, the company increases rates every five and a half years, meaning it would have raised the fee in late 2022 or early 2023.

Costco had previously stated that it was not the appropriate time to raise fees due to high inflation, as expressed by CEO Craig Jelinek in interviews with CNBC and CFO Richard Galanti in prior earnings calls.

While Costco generates most of its revenue through membership fees, Sam's Club, its competitor, raised its membership fee for the first time in nine years in 2022. Despite the increase, a Sam's Club membership was still cheaper than BJ's Wholesale's membership fees of $55 and $110 for club members and higher tier, respectively.

Costco intensified its enforcement measures in 2020 to prevent shoppers from using other members' cards. The company implemented an additional verification process for memberships in self-checkout aisles. This was similar to Netflix's efforts to combat unauthorized usage of its service.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.