The energy company, E.On, has apologised and agreed to pay £1.7m in compensation after it overcharged 94,000 customers following price rises. Some £1.4m is being paid directly to customers who were overcharged on exit fees. They will receive an average rebate of £14.83 each. The other £300,000 will be paid into a hardship fund run by charity Age UK. E.On made errors during a 30-day window that allows customers to switch supplier before a price rise. During that time, industry rules mean customers on fixed-term deals should not incur an exit fee if they signal their intention to switch supplier. Regulator Ofgem said that the compensation related to four price rises that occurred between 2008 and 2011. E.On brought the error to the regulator’s attention in November and had agreed to compensate customers rather than face an investigation and a potential fine. (BBC, Financial Times*,Independent, Times*)
Banking scandals making people seek mutual safety, says Nationwide
The number of current account customers defecting from high street banks to Britain’s biggest building society has doubled since Libor-rigging and other scandals. Nationwide, which urges current account-holders to dump their banks in a recent advertising campaign, said yesterday that the policy was paying off. About 51,400 customers moved to the building society in the six months to September, more than twice the 24,800 switching in the same period in 2011. Graham Beale, Nationwide’s chief executive, said it was likely that the Libor scandal at Barclays, revelations about the laundering of drugs money at HSBC and the computer problems at Royal Bank of Scotland had all helped to boost the numbers. “The antipathy towards banks is as high as it has ever been. People are voting with their feet,” he said. Nationwide, which is owned by its customers, is keen to emphasise its difference from mainstream shareholder-owned banks. However, it has not escaped the payment protection insurance scandal; it set aside another £45 million to pay PPI compensation yesterday, taking the total bill to £173 million. (Times*)
Building group faces blacklist claim
A blacklist containing the names of more than 3,000 workers regarded as “troublemakers” was allegedly set up and funded with the help of one of the UK’s largest construction companies, Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd. The alleged involvement of Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd was set out in evidence given to the Commons Scottish Affairs Committee on Tuesday by Ian Kerr, of the Consulting Association, an organisation that compiled the information on individuals. Mr Kerr was fined £5,000 in July 2009 for breaching the Data Protection Act by running the blacklist but told the MPs on Tuesday that the fine was paid by Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd “on the basis that I put myself at the front, took the flak…for it, so they wouldn’t be drawn into all of this, but they would remain hidden”. The hearing comes as almost 100 blacklisted workers prepare to take court action seeking compensation for years of lost earnings, citing the building company as the centre of a wider construction industry conspiracy. (Financial Times*)
Environment
£3bn Green Investment Bank opens for business
The UK's £3bn Green Investment Bank was officially opened today, accompanied by government predictions that it will mobilise billions of pounds of investment in the country's low carbon economy. Launching the bank, Business Secretary Vince Cable also confirmed the institution has made its first official investments, ploughing £8m into a new anaerobic digestion plant in Teesside and a further £5m to reduce energy consumption at Kingspan UK's headquarters. Cable said the bank would "place the green economy at the heart of our recovery and position the UK in the forefront of the drive to develop clean energy". The opening comes as the government prepares to launch its much-debated Energy Bill on Thursday, which Ed Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, said would offer further support to low carbon projects. (Business Green)
Renewable energy saves Ireland €300m in fossil fuel imports
Almost one fifth of Irish electricity usage now comes from renewable sources, according to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The SEAI's annual Energy in Ireland report revealed that although Ireland's energy import dependency is still high at 88 percent, renewable energy grew to 6.4 percent of Ireland's final energy use, reducing Ireland's fossil fuel imports by an estimated €300m (£242m) last year. The chief executive of SEAI, Brian Motherway said: "2011 was a record year for renewables in Ireland, in particular wind energy. This brought a number of benefits, most notably a reduction in our natural gas imports worth almost €300m, and avoided emissions of 3.6 million tonnes of CO2." The report also states that energy use per household is down 16 percent since 2007 and average CO2 emissions from new cars is down 22 percent since the introduction of emissions-based taxation. (Edie)
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