Customers who were charged £6 for ringing Yorkshire Water have been offered a refund. It comes after the water firm contacted the Phone-Paid Service Authority (PSA), after receiving a complaint from a customer. The PSA upheld YW’s complaint after finding a website quoting premium-rate numbers for customers to call the company. The official…
Nearly 500 homes get free gas grid connection Cadent and Affordable Warmth Solutions are working to connect Bracknell residents to a new gas network. Cadent and Affordable Warmth Solutions (AWS) have launched a new gas connection scheme in Bracknell. The £1.4 million project will allow nearly 500 hundred homes to enjoy a new energy efficient heating system expected to…
Npower-SSE merger wins go-ahead from competition watchdog Big six shrinks to big five as CMA clears way for major shakeup of energy sector The competition watchdog has provisionally given the green light to the merger of npower and the retail arm of SSE, removing the final hurdle to the biggest shakeup of the energy sector in…
Hosepipe ban cancelled days before coming into force The company says it does not want to “inconvenience” its customers in the North West who have been making efforts to save water. United Utilities has cancelled its hosepipe ban days before it was due to start after rainfall replenished the water supply. The company was due…
Energy supplier Iresa collapses after record number of complaints Failure of UK’s cheapest utility firm prompts calls for financial checks for new providers The UK’s cheapest and most complained-about energy supplier has ceased trading, in a collapse that has prompted calls for tougher tests on new entrants to the market. The energy regulator Ofgem said Iresa’s 100,000…
British Gas owner hints bills could rise for the second time this year Tariffs ‘under review’ as Centrica reports 20% profit fall and 341,000 lost customers. Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has hinted that bills could go up for a second time this year, after reporting a 20% drop in profits at its consumer…
Heatwave puts pressure on water supplies One of the UK’s largest water firms is warning people to conserve supplies as it makes emergency deliveries during the heatwave. Severn Trent said homes in Shropshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire had been temporarily without water as demand has outstripped supply across its network. United Utilities said it could bring…
The pensioner charged £6,298.74 after asking a handyman to fix a simple leak – your rights with rogue traders I haven’t written a rogue trader story for a while but when Mary wrote to me this week I knew it was a story that should be pursued. Mary, who is 67, called in a…
Water firms failed customers during ‘Beast from the East’ Some of the UK’s biggest water companies did not support customers properly during this winter’s Beast from the East snow chaos, causing “significant hardship”, Ofwat has said. The regulator said more than 200,000 customers were left without water for more than four hours and tens…