Understanding utility bills getting harder

It has been claimed by officials from consumer watchdog group Consumer Focus that understanding gas and electricity bills is actually getting more difficult for some people, despite the fact that the energy regulator Ofgem has issued new rules that are aimed at making it easier for consumers to understand their utility bills from energy companies.

Around 10 percent of income is spent on gas and electricity, and officials are concerned that with the most expensive time of the year nearly upon us, where consumers will be using more energy due to the weather, many could end up paying over the odds because they are unable to work out what they should be paying.

The concerns come after it was revealed that one of the big six energy giants in the UK, Npower, had been inadvertently overcharging over one million households across the country, and those affected had not even noticed that they were paying too much for their energy usage.

Officials from Consumer Focus said that whilst Ofgem was trying to make it easier for consumers to understand their energy bills and avoid paying over the odds the situation actually appeared to be getting worse. This could be a combination of people finding it hard to work out what they should be paying or people simply not bothering to check their energy bills.

A spokesperson for Consumer Focus said: “If anything, we are seeing more complexity than before the rules came in. If I was an Npower customer, I would never have noticed that I was being overcharged. People don’t want their energy to be confusing – they want to be able to switch the lights on and forget it, but instead there are all these ridiculous structures.”

Tags: energy giants, Consumer Focus, electricity bills, ofgem, combination, consumer watchdog, energy bills, energy regulator

Apacs: Never reveal Pin

Apacs, the UK payments association, has emphasised the importance of credit card security and advised consumers to keep their Pin private.

A spokesperson for the association said people should make their Pins as complex as possible to avoid would-be fraudsters getting their hands on their cash.

However, she added that this can lead to confusion, adding that people can avoid this by selecting a familiar pattern.

“It is better not to use the same Pin number and, if you can, familiarise a sequence of codes; a number of a house that you know in combination with a good friend’s birthday.”

Finally, she emphasised the importance of never disclosing information regarding Pins or writing them down and storing them with the cards in question.

Recent research by Which? highlighted that one in three Brits have been a victim of credit card fraud in the past.

A previous CPP poll found that Londoners were the most likely to have their plastic stolen or fraudulently used, with 20 per cent and 28 per cent of the capital’s residents being a victim of such crimes respectively.

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Independent school loss of earnings cover ‘not comprehensive’

Loss of earnings cover provided by independent schools may prove to be “value for money”, but they are often “very basic”, an industry expert has said.

According to Steve Danson, a chartered financial planner at Elementum, the insurance would not cover sickness absence or death in some cases.

“People should definitely get a plan for their particular circumstances, and quite often the plans we would recommend would be the same types of plans we would recommend to anyone with a big commitment,” he said.

He added that many companies will sell school fees insurance as a specialist product, when in fact it is a combination of normal insurance covers.

The Independent Schools Council (ISC) recently claimed that 620,000 children are educated in around 2,500 independent schools, which represents an estimated seven per cent of the total number of British schoolchildren.

Of the ISC’s member schools, 31.43 per cent of pupils received financial support with their fees this year, valued at a total of £300 million.

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