Energy dominates the news yet again. My pick if you want a positive article is Let’s optimise your heating. For stats on just how bad it is already, see Citizens Advice’s new cost of living dashboard: The crisis we’re seeing unfold.
Tweet of the week
Energy company energy pic.twitter.com/gHaOIGVE7c
— TwistedDoodles (@twisteddoodles) July 28, 2022
Energy prices
Our new cost of living dashboard: the crisis we’re seeing unfold Citizens Advice: There’s no getting away from how bleak the situation is. Energy bills rose to £2,000 in April and are expected to rise even higher in October to £3,250.
Let’s optimise your heating Nesta: Anyone with a combi boiler (gas heating, no hot water tank) should read this. And debt advisers needs to suggests our clients read this. You could cut your gas use by 6-8% by making small changes to the way you heat your home. And all without changing the temperature in your rooms.
Martin Lewis says energy bills at ‘desperate’ point BBC: “Year-on-year from last October to this October a typical house will be paying £2,300 a year more on their energy bills alone.”
Energy firms are forcing thousands of customers onto prepayment meters as bills soar Big Issue: Courts have granted more than 187,000 warrants to energy companies this year to allow them to enter customers’ homes and forcibly install prepayment meters.
Energy arrears now dominate household debt, as charities call on Ofgem to ‘ramp up’ help for those struggling in face of price cap hike Mail: Average energy arrears among those contacting StepChange now at £1,399.
£400 energy bills discount to support households this winter gov.uk: Sets out how the £400 will be paid, which depends on how you pay your energy bills. My comment – the two big worries are that people will fall for scammers asking for their bank details/offering to help them claim, and that people with old prepayment meters won’t cash the vouchers they are sent as they may not see them/may think they are scams. What a world we live in.
Energy pricing and the future of the energy market BEIS House of Commons Committee: Damning criticism of Ofgem for poor regulation and the goverment for prioritising competition over proper regulation. Calls for the government to consider the introduction of a social tariff for the most vulnerable customers.
Other news
The largest catalog refund I have seen so far, see How to get refunds from catalogues and credit cards:
The Money Platform takes payments for loans already repaid my article.
Fifth of UK households now have ‘negative disposable income’ Guardian: One in five had average weekly shortfall of £60 between earnings and money needed to cover essentials including rent.
Cost of living: Britons are borrowing more and saving less as crisis starts to hurt Sky: Analysts say the figures are “just the tip of the iceberg” as richer households increasingly dip into savings and poorer households increasingly rely on credit.
Shoppers falling behind after turning to ‘buy now, pay later’ Times (paywall): So far this year 41 per cent of customers have missed at least one repayment, up from 11 per cent last year.
Benefit deductions should be stopped until inflation falls, say MPs Guardian: Committee calls for ‘breathing space’ for millions whose universal credit is docked to repay advances, debts or overpayments
Housing:
- Making a house a home: Why policy must focus on the ownership and distribution of housing Resolution Foundation: We do need new supply… [But] alongside this, we must place a much greater focus on the 25 million homes we already occupy, both to address the cost of housing and to explore the strategies, levers, and policies which can be utilised to rapidly shift who they are owned by and in whose interests.
- Building Society says ‘no’ to second homes and insists mortgages ‘should go to first-time buyers’ Mail: Leeds Building Society said funding second properties was not ‘compatible with our purpose to put home ownership within reach of more people’. My comment – good start but shame they are still lending on holiday homes and BTLs.
School uniforms: UK parents urged to buy early amid supply problems Guardian: Supplier warns of Covid-related disruption, amid calls for VAT on over-14s’ school clothes to be axed
The FCA’s Consumer Duty: what is foreseeable harm? And why does it matter? Money Advice Trust: the FCA state firms “must take proactive and reactive steps to avoid causing harm to customers through their conduct, products, or services…[including] their design, terms and conditions, marketing, [sales] and support”.
Macroeconomics:
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