Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Improving water bill reductions for single people living with medical conditions which rely on higher levels of water use is among a raft of sweeping changes to the WaterSure support scheme, being proposed by the Consumer Council for Water (CCW). The consumer watchdog CCW has submitted six main recommendations to the UK and Welsh governments, aimed at…
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New research by the Resolution Foundation has highlighted the challenges faced by the 4 million UK households who pay for energy via pre-payment meters (PPMs). High prices and the concentration of energy use in the winter months mean that, on average, households with a PPM will need to spend more than 30 per cent of…
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Ofwat has announced that water bills are set to rise by an average of £31 per year (36%) over the next five years from April. The water regulator has said the increase was enough for water companies in England and Wales to pay for upgrades and reduce sewage discharges. The increase is higher than the…
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Energy regulator Ofgem has laid out plans to make firms offer tariffs without standing charges from next winter. The new plans also outline better support for households struggling with debt. The regulator will consult on introducing an option under the price cap to include zero standing charge tariffs alongside existing tariffs, offering consumers the ability to choose…
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Almost one million pensioner households in England and Wales could be living in water poverty by 2029/30 if the UK Government doesn’t introduce a single social tariff, according to a shocking new report by charity Independent Age. This is an increase from 2022/23 when there were 750,000 pensioner households living in water poverty. The report,…
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New forecasts from Cornwall Insight have seen price cap predictions rise to £1,762 a year for a typical dual fuel consumer. This would represent a 1% increase from January’s price cap of £1,738 announced in November. Cornwall Insight says that the increase in the cap forecast largely reflects the movement in the wholesale market, where…
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Energy regulator Ofgem is been urged to do more by Citizens Advice to protect consumers as soaring energy costs drive billing issues. Citizens Advice helped over 52,000 people with energy bill problems between January and October this year – equivalent to one person every two minutes. This is an 83% increase compared with the same…
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Here is an overview of The Money Charity’s latest statistics for November 2024 Personal debt in the UK People in the UK owed £1,868.1 billion at the end of September 2024. The average total debt per household, including mortgages, was £65,777 and per adult was £34,594, around 95.3% of average earnings. Net mortgage lending increased by…
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Energy regulator Ofgem has announced a 1.2% increase of the energy price cap for the period covering January-March 2025. The change to the price cap – which sets a maximum rate per unit and standing charge that can be billed to customers for their energy use – will rise by £21 for an average household…
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Two-thirds of consumers have used or plan to use retail credit during the Christmas season according to research by Moneyhub. The report has revealed that retail credit users spend an average of £1,012.55 over the holidays, with £759.71 with nearly three-quarters financed through retail credit. The data showed that 64% of people are struggling to…
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E.ON Next has paid £14.5 million after failing to provide final bills and refund customer credit balances to prepayment meter customers. An investigation by the energy regulator, Ofgem, found almost 250,000 prepayment meter customer accounts were affected between February 2021 and September 2023 due to an error within its billing system, which E.ON Next self-reported…
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Cornwall Insight has announced its final forecast for the January – March Q1 2025 and as a result, households using a typical amount of gas and electricity will pay £1,736 a year from January. The increase would be a £17 a year rise, or a 1% increase, compared with the current typical annual bill of…
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Credit Connect hosted its fourth in-person Credit & Collections Technology Think Tank last week in Manchester which saw credit and collections strategies and the impact of the cost of living discussed by sixteen professionals from a variety of industry sectors at the Midland Hotel in Manchester. The themes of cost of living impacting customer engagement,…
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