Consumer Alert weekly UK web news articles, information & tips: Monday July 5th 2010.
Mon, 2010-07-05
1. ISA transfer times to be speeded up after OFT upholds Consumer Focus super complaint.
The Office of Fair Trading has upheld a "super complaint" by the consumer body, Consumer Focus, that Isa holders were suffering lengthy delays when transferring to a new provider. The OFT said Isa transfers should now take no more than 15 working days – down from 23. Consumer Focus was underwhelmed: "We live in the age of keyboards, not quills. Isa transfers should take days, not weeks." FULL STORY (guardian.co.uk)
2. UK must take radical action to meet climate change targets, warns the Government Watchdog.
Britain needs to build twice as many wind farms every year, put more than a million electric cars on the road and insulate every home in the country in order to meet ambitious legally-binding climate change targets, Government advisers have warned. Under new laws brought in by the previous Labour Government, the UK is committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 34 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020. However, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), set up to advise ministers on progress against the target, is warning that at the moment, the country is on course to fail. The Committee's chairman Lord Turner says the recession has created the illusion that the UK is tackling climate change, when in fact the substantial declines in emissions have been almost entirely the result of lower economic activity in the last year. FULL STORY (telegraph.co.uk)
3. FOOD: No EU ban on buying eggs by the dozen, assures key Euro MP.
Despite rumours to the contrary, the EU is NOT preparing to ban the sale of groceries by quantity, such as "a dozen" eggs, the Euro MP steering new food labelling legislation has assured consumers. Renate Sommer MEP was responding to suggestions that shoppers might have to change the habits of a lifetime if all food had to be sold by weight."There will be no changes to selling foods by number," she said on Tuesday. "Selling eggs by the dozen... will not be banned," she said. However, no final agreement is expected before mid-2011. FULL STORY (bbc.co.uk)
4. Household energy bills to include more detailed information under new Ofgem rules.
Householders will soon receive improved information on their regular bills as well as on the annual cost of their gas and electricity, under new rules from the energy regulator that come into force this month (July 2010), reports the Guardian. All households will receive annual statements between 1 July and 1 December, depending on their energy supplier's billing cycle. The statements will show the tariff you are on, how much energy you have used in the past 12 months (when you have been with your supplier for at least a year), and the estimated cost in pounds for the following year – assuming you stayed on the same tariff using the same amount of energy and there were no price changes during that time. FULL STORY (guardian.co.uk)
5. Hundreds of householders hit by bin fines bigger than those given to shoplifters, reports the Sunday Telegraph.
The Sunday Telegraph reports that local authorities issued more than 1,240 fixed penalty notices last year for breaking rules on recycling and putting out rubbish. Councils are issuing fines of up to £110 for such infringements as putting their bins out for collection at the wrong time, overfilling bins, or putting recycling into the wrong boxes. That compares to the £80 spot fines that can be issued by police to people caught shoplifting. The controversial rules have been condemned as draconian and are deeply unpopular with householders. Councils insist the fines are necessary. FULL STORY (telegraph.co.uk)
END
These news items have been provided by James Menzies