Npower Slammed By Ofgem Over Billing Claims

The energy watchdog and the Government have accused gas and electricity supplier npower of "misleading" consumers over the cost structure of household bills.

Npower released a 14-page document which sought to "create a better understanding of the facts behind the energy industry".

The 'Big Six' company's report, Energy Explained: Inside The Cost Of Energy, showed how customers could minimise their bills by improving home insulation efficiency.

It argued that bills in the UK are high because the country's "old and draughty" houses waste so much gas and electricity.

The company illustrated what impact insulation would have on bill reduction, although it said network costs - those beyond its control - would rise until 2020 by a projected 74%.

But in a strongly worded response, regulator Ofgem said: "We welcome npower's effort to inform the energy debate, however their data on network costs is incorrect and misleading.

"We offered to help npower improve the accuracy of their numbers for network charges and it is disappointing that they did not engage fully with us until after the document had been circulated."

Npower also stated that green taxes on energy bills would more than double by the end of the decade.

However, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) rejected the claim.

The department said "Npower's analysis is incorrect on so many levels" and insists that lower social and environmental programmes will in fact lower energy bills by as much as £166 in 2020.

The DECC added: "A number of the policies listed by npower don't have any impact on household energy bills, including the Renewable Heat Incentive, Climate Change Levy and the Carbon Reduction Commitment."

Last week, npower apologised to customers over a rising tide of complaints to regulators and charities.

Information compiled by the watchdog Consumer Futures found that the company continued to receive the highest number of complaints between July and September - around eight times more than the best-performing firm.

Its data suggested npower collected nearly half of all gripes against energy firms to third parties in the period, numbering 253 per 100,000 customers - a rise of 25% on the previous three months.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

00.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Unilever Explores £1bn Deal To Shed SlimFast

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The consumer products giant Unilever is exploring a sale of SlimFast, its weight loss range, in a deal that would inevitably crystallise a big loss for the company.

Sky News has learnt that Unilever has been discussing a potential disposal of the brand as it seeks to focus on the core brands in its portfolio.

The company is at the early stages of examining whether to sell SlimFast, according to people close to the situation, and it is possible that Unilever may decide to retain the business following a review of its options.

The Anglo-Dutch food and personal care group acquired Slimfast in 2000 in a $2.4bn (£1.44bn) deal.

Originally a range of milk and soy-based milkshakes developed by the Thompson Medical Company, Unilever has struggled to make the transaction pay off despite growing consumer interest in slimming and dieting brands.

It was unclear on Wednesday whether Unilever has formally hired bankers to sound out prospective buyers of SlimFast, although Goldman Sachs is often used by the company's executives on food-related deals.

Unilever is widely regarded as having under-invested in research and development as well as promotional activity for the SlimFast range in recent years.

The company does not break down sales figures for individual brands but revenues from the dieting range are understood to have declined on an annual basis during the last few years.

It is unclear who is likely to be interested in acquiring SlimFast if its current owner does opt to pursue a sale.

Last November, Nestle, the Swiss-based consumer goods-maker sold the US and Australian operations of its weight loss business, Jenny Craig, to North Castle Partners, a private equity group.

US-listed WeightWatchers, Jenny Craig and SlimFast are part of a market estimated to be worth more than $11bn (£6.6bn) in annual retail sales globally.

Paul Polman, Unilever chief executive, has already embarked on a drive to simplify the company, and is shedding non-core brands such as Peperami, the beef jerky product.

On Tuesday, the company said that growing competition in developed markets was likely to restrict sales growth during the next year, although it beat City analysts' forecasts in 2012.

A spokeswoman for Unilever, which makes Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Dove shampoo, Lynx deodorants and Marmite, said the company did not comment on rumour or speculation.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

00.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Lloyds Co-Op Deal Denounced By Lord Levene

A peer has alleged "bad faith" after a bid he was leading to buy hundreds of Lloyds bank branches lost out to the rival Co-operative Group.

Giving evidence to MPs at Westminster, Lord Levene, who chaired NBNK Investments which had been seeking to create a new 'challenger' bank, said the bidding process had been unfair.

And he accused Lloyds of "unattractive commercial practice".

Lord Levene also claimed he was told in a confidential meeting with the then-Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, that it would be a "political decision".

Lord Levene claimed the bidding process for the Lloyds branches was unfair

The hearing formed part of the Treasury Select Committee's inquiry into the collapse of the Co-op's acquisition of 632 Lloyds branches.

Lord Levene appeared alongside Gary Hoffman, the former chief executive of NBNK.

Speaking about the thwarted NBNK bid, Lord Levene told MPs: "It's a matter of great regret to me this didn't happen.

"I think it was a good idea but life goes on and you have to get on with it."

But when asked by committee chairman Andrew Tyrie if the bidding process was fair he said: "No."

Under further close questioning by Mr Tyrie, he was asked if he was alleging bad faith.

He replied: "Yes."

In evidence to MPs, Lord Levene said during the bidding process he was told to look at the reference to financial services in the Coalition agreement, which said one of the goals was "to promote the interests of mutuals".

Lord Levene said: "With the benefit of hindsight there seems to have been a view that if the creation of a new challenger bank was created by a mutual it would be another tick in the box for the goals set out.

"I have no problem with that provided it's done by fair means rather than than foul.

"In our view they chose to concentrate on all the positive aspects of the Co-Op, and none of the positive aspects of our bid."

He said later: "It was like a penny dropped, and we suddenly started to realise where this was coming from."

Lord Levene also accused Lloyds of "unattractive commercial practice", and said  the evidence it had given to the Treasury committee was "at best disingenuous".

Lord Levene repeated his claim that the bid by NBNK had been "financially superior".

The peer told MPs he had personally lost £60,000 as a result of the failed bid. Investors collectively lost £30m.

Mr Hoffman said: "The great tragedy out of all of this is that it's been to the detriment of the mutual sector, and that's a great tragedy.

"The other great tragedy is we don't have a challenger bank."

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

00.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Nissan Revs Up For Qashqai At Sunderland Plant

Japanese car giant Nissan has started production of its new UK-designed Qashqai, promising to create 500 new jobs in Britain.

The second version of the Qashqai is being made at the company's Sunderland plant.

The new production is expected to see the total labour force top 7,000 for the first time.

The facility sees a new car roll off the production line every minute.

The Qashqai, developed at the company's Paddington design centre in west London, is the company's flagship best-seller in Europe.

First sold in 2006, it is now exported to 132 countries globally.

Nissan's chief performance officer Trevor Mann said: "It invented the crossover segment, propelled the Nissan brand in Europe to a new level and helped our plant in Sunderland to set new standards in productivity and quality.

"The new Qashqai … once again elevate Nissan to a new level."

The Prime Minister welcomed the new production and said the company's parts supply chain supported many more jobs across the UK.

David Cameron said: "Nissan supports 40,000 jobs across the UK.

"And when you add that to the £500m investment that Nissan have made in this country for this new model, it shows how our long-term plan is giving companies the confidence to invest and create jobs in Britain."

The new Nissan is produced on Sunderland's Line 1, which has operated around the clock since 2010 to meet production schedules.

The company said some 286,000 Qashqai cars were built last year, and a comparable figure forecast for 2014.

 :: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

00.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Energy Bosses 'Utterly Complacent' Over Storms

Energy bosses have been accused of "utter complacency" over their response to the Christmas storms that left hundreds of thousands without power.

The heads of the six companies, responsible for the networks which provide power to the UK's homes, were appearing before MPs on the House of Commons Energy Select Committee.

They said they were pleased with the response to the crisis, which saw some homes without power for up to five days, effectively claiming that customers were lucky it had not taken longer to restore electricity to homes.

In addition they were unable to tell MPs how many people were affected, even three weeks after the event.

The committee accused them of having exploited their "privileged monopoly position" and of a lack of sympathy for families who were left without electricity on Christmas Day.

Yalding resident Erica Olivares confronted David Cameron over power cuts

Conservative MP Tim Yeo lambasted them saying: "I've heard nothing at all this morning which reassures me that you are taking this problem seriously enough to deal with the concerns of millions of your customers.

"There is no sense of urgency in what you said about any plans to step up your capacity to respond to severe weather even though we now have quite clear warnings that extreme events are likely to take place more frequently in future."

In addition they cast doubt on Energy Secretary Ed Davey's pledge to introduce a 999-style emergency blackout telephone number for households confused over whom to call in a crisis.

Mr Davey made the claim on January 8 following a meeting with the six energy network company bosses, however, when questioned David Smith, chief executive of the Energy Networks Association, said they were "working on it".

Mr Yeo accused the firms of managing to "make the Secretary of State look ridiculous in his claim that there is going to be a three digit number that customers can use".

Power cuts caused chaos as Gatwick Airport. Pic: Andrew Jennings

He asked Mr Smith if he had informed Mr Davey's office that the introduction of an emergency number were "complete nonsense" and was told: "We had the conversation with the Secretary of State and one of the things that we were very clear on was we need to do some more work, we need to get the final bits and pieces in place, and that was the key point."

Mark Mathieson, managing director of SSE's electricity networks, told the committee: "It was just the impact of the event. It was a massive event. Certainly we haven't seen damage like this in the South back from the early 90s and even back to the great storm of 1987.

"I think the one thing I would say, and I've been in this industry for 25 years, we as an industry clean these events up much quicker than we used to. But we also recognise the impact that has on customers.

"We are sorry and I did go out to communicate with customers that we were sorry that they were off."

Tim Yeo criticised firms for neglecting customers

Basil Scarsella, the chief executive of UK Power Networks, said that they had been prepared for the storms but that the weather forecast "escalated significantly".

He said that on Friday they had forecast 40-50mph winds for Monday but by Sunday that has increased to 70-80mph.

The bosses were also questioned over the levels of compensation offered to customers who had gone without power.

They said they had doubled the levels of compensation to households who had been without power.

However, they were given examples where payouts were being questioned where homes had not met the criteria of 24 hours without power because electricity had been restored for five minutes during the day.

There was widespread anger about the delays in restoring power during the prolonged period of flooding over Christmas.

The outages caused significant delays at Gatwick airport with hundreds of passengers affected and flights cancelled.

David Cameron was memorably confronted by angry resident Erica Olivares during a visit to the village of Yalding in Kent on December 27.

Mr Yeo concluded the committee hearing by telling the six men: "I have to conclude that you are exploiting your privileged monopoly position and you have displayed a neglect of your customers which I personally find absolutely astonishing."

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

00.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Osborne Hails New IMF Growth Forecast For UK

Full-Blown Recovery Uncertain Despite IMF Boost

Updated: 4:40pm UK, Tuesday 21 January 2014

By Ed Conway, Economics Editor

The chances are by now that you are already well aware of the gist of the International Monetary Fund's latest update to their economic forecasts.

As we revealed on Sky News on Monday, the Fund is raising its forecast for UK economic growth this year from 1.9% to 2.4% - the biggest upgrade of any major economy.

It is raising its forecast for world economic growth as well, though by far less: it is 0.1 percentage points higher than in October, at 3.7%.

The US is also slated to grow at a faster rate than previously expected - 2.8%, compared with the 2.6% forecast last time around.

The news is not uniformly positive, however. There are cuts in the forecast for Russian and Brazilian growth, and although China's growth forecast is notched up slightly, it is nonetheless poised to be at its lowest rate since the mid-1990s.

And while many will look at the IMF upgrade and exhale a large sigh of relief, the numbers are by no means compatible with a full-blown recovery.

In fact, the Fund itself points out that, for the most part, the recent improvement in GDP numbers - the key metric it bases its forecasts on - is down not to a genuine bounce-back in spending but to something else.

As it puts it, in advanced economies, "much of the upward surprise in growth is due to higher inventory demand".

Inventories are a rather bizarre element of national accounting - essentially they measure the work and products companies have made, but not sold. It is the stuff they have warehoused away until there is more demand.

The problem is that a big reliance on inventories often means that today's growth may not be sustained all the way into the future (after all, those big stockpiles mean companies may not have to produce as much in the coming quarters).

Now, on the one hand, set against the scale of the recession and crisis faced both in the developed and developing world, this question of whether we are now witnessing the "right kind of growth" might seem like a minor one.

But the worry is that the world economy (especially the UK and US) is still reliant on the massive monetary stimulus provided by quantitative easing.

As Olivier Blanchard, the chief economist of the Fund, put it on Tuesday: "As the recovery takes hold in advanced economies, a main challenge will be to normalise monetary policy."

This will imply big movements in markets in the coming years as investors become accustomed to the new world where markets are no longer being artificially propped up by central banks.

This, in turn, holds some risk for developing economies, which are reliant on those capital flows for much of their growth.

But the more profound concern is that despite the monetary mountain of cash which has been poured into major economies, many consumers are still reluctant to spend. Those high inventory numbers are a little worrying in that respect.

There seem to be two alternative extremes going on right now: in countries like Britain people are willing to go out and spend, but only using their saved cash or by borrowing (because of those low interest rates caused by Quantitative Easing).

Meanwhile, in other areas, Europe in particular, there still seems to be a profound reluctance to spend.

A real rebound may well be on the cards in the coming months, but the IMF is worried we are still yet to see the full-blooded recovery that often follows a recession.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

00.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cable Vows Fight Over Royal Mail Chief's Pay

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

An explosive executive pay row is brewing between Vince Cable and Royal Mail over the £1.5m package earned by the newly privatised company's chief executive.

Sky News can reveal that the Business Secretary is preparing to face down moves by Royal Mail's board to hike Moya Greene's annual remuneration just months after the Government sold a 70% stake in the company.

Mr Cable is understood to be willing to consider going as far as using his vote as the postal operator's biggest remaining shareholder to try to block any such increase.

If that were to happen, it would represent a remarkable new chapter in the privatisation of Royal Mail, which was bitterly opposed by Labour and the Communication Workers' Union.

The Government has been heavily criticised since last October's £3.3bn stock market listing, with the company's soaring share price leaving ministers vulnerable to accusations that it had been seriously undervalued.

The conflict over executive pay has been simmering since last weekend, when Donald Brydon, the boardroom veteran who chairs Royal Mail, said in a newspaper interview that increasing Ms Greene's pay was necessary if the company wanted to retain her services.

"I think it's only fair to pay Moya the right market rate for her job," he told The Sunday Telegraph.

"I'm not in the school that says top executive pay is without fault, there are parts of it that are egregious and wrong. But happily we are so far away from that end of it that to try and right-size her a bit I think is a necessary part of making sure we keep her."

Mr Brydon did not quantify the perceived shortfall in the Royal Mail chief's pay, although Ms Greene is paid less in aggregate than any of her peers at the helm of companies in the FTSE 100. She is also paid substantially less than her predecessor, Adam Crozier.

Last year, she received just under £498,000 in basic salary with further sums totalling nearly £1m based on her performance and directors' judgements about her success at modernising the company.

Royal Mail has pledged not to give Ms Greene a significant pay rise until after the current financial year.

Mr Cable is said to be irritated at Mr Brydon's intervention in the context of a row last year which led to Ms Greene returning a £250,000 housing allowance after he objected to the "material" payment.

The sum was disclosed in Royal Mail's annual report last summer. A review of Ms Greene's employment contract by Sky News after the company's flotation found no further discretionary payments of that kind.

At the time, Mr Cable said: "I am pleased that this unapproved payment is being returned. The company acted quickly to rectify the situation.

"A mistake was made in not seeking my approval: I would not have approved it. The chairman is sorry; the payment is being returned. I now regard the matter closed.

"Moya Greene is an exceptionally good CEO and she and the board have my full support to take the company forward."

Under laws passed at Mr Cable's instigation, most listed companies will face for the first time in 2014 a binding shareholder vote on their future pay policies for senior executives.

The prospect of one of the first big protest votes under the new regime being orchestrated by Mr Cable himself would stun the City.

It is not clear whether Mr Cable is opposed to any increase at all in Ms Greene's salary while the Government remains a shareholder in the company, but he is understood to be determined to hold Royal Mail's board to account over the issue.

However, the Business Secretary's stance may leave the Government vulnerable to accusations of hypocrisy given that both Antonio Horta-Osorio and Ross McEwan, the chief executives of state-backed Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, are paid far higher sums than Ms Greene.

There is a widespread expectation that ministers will sanction the sale of the remaining stake before next year's general election, which would leave Royal Mail's board answerable only to external investors.

The Business Secretary is said to be keen to avoid the "nuclear option" of using the Government's vote to oppose Royal Mail's remuneration report.

Unions are likely to apply intense pressure on him to do so, however, with Unite national officer Ian Tonks saying this week: "Calls to boost Moya Greene's huge salary even further is proof the rushed privatisation of Royal Mail is descending into a farce. The Government should step in and make clear it opposes this sort of corporate greed."

If Mr Cable did vote against it, it could leave some Royal Mail directors feeling that their positions were untenable because they were not able to act in the interests of all shareholders by securing the services of the company's chief executive.

It would also revive memories of the vote by UK Financial Investments against Royal Bank of Scotland's pay report in 2009 following its taxpayer bail-out, although that vote was only on an advisory basis.

Mr Cable will give evidence later on Wednesday to the Business, Innovation and Skills select committee about the department's annual report, when he may face further questioning about the Royal Mail sell-off.

A spokeswoman for Mr Cable declined to comment.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

00.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pentagon Spree Boosts BlackBerry's Fortunes

Struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry has seen its share price soar after the Pentagon said it would buy a swathe of new handsets.

Last week, the US military announced that it would have a surge in "mobility" devices, including iPads, iPhones, and Samsung tables and smartphones.

On Tuesday the world's biggest defence spender announced it would buy 80,000 BlackBerrys, boosting the firm's share price rise by 9.36%.

The Canadian company has now seen its shares rocket by more than 60% from its lows last month, when it reported a quarterly loss of more than £2.6bn.

US President Barack Obama has been a BlackBerry fan

In response to the hefty hit BlackBerry said it would outsource production to Taiwan-based Foxconn.

Foxconn makes products for Apple in China and has come under repeated criticism for work conditions for its mainland employees.

Industry experts believe the outsourcing will now help BlackBerry concentrate on software and services - avoiding many of the risks of the volatile smartphone segment.

Last year, the company said it was considering a sale or other strategic move, but later scrapped those plans and told customers it was staying in the smartphone business.

On Tuesday it also announced plans to sell most of its Canadian property holdings as part of a new management strategic plan.

BlackBerry helped create a culture of mobile users glued to smartphones - and were once nicknamed "CrackBerrys" in reference to the addictive habit of checking emails.

The encryption system used by the firm was once seen as a benefit for many firms, including the White House administration.

But the firm lost its pre-eminent position as people swapped to iPhones and Google's Android software.

The company still has around 70 million subscribers worldwide, but most of these are using older handsets, with newer devices on the BlackBerry 10 platform unveiled a year ago failing to sell.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

00.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

HS2 Campaigners Lose Supreme Court Challenge

Judges have thrown out a legal challenge by opponents of the Government's £50bn HS2 national high-speed rail link.

Objectors hoped their appeal would force further ministerial scrutiny of the environmental impact of the scheme.

They said the case concerned "the most important strategic rail decision this country has taken at least for a generation" and the Government had failed to consult as widely as it had promised and to consider any alternatives properly.

Ministers were accused of "cutting corners" and breaching European environmental laws to push through the project.

But the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the bid by campaigners.

Opponents have warned ministers the ruling is "not the end of the road"

A panel of seven judges ruled: "There is no reason to suppose that MPs will be unable properly to examine and debate the proposed project."

There was no need for the court to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), they added.

The legal challenge was taken to the highest court in the land by the HS2 Action Alliance (HS2AA), Heathrow Hub campaigners and local councils along the proposed route to link London, the Midlands and the North.

The Department for Transport has described HS2 as "absolutely vital for this country if we are to meet the urgent capacity needs we face".

Transport Minister Baroness Kramer said the appeal "had no bearing on the need for a new north-south railway" and the Government's handling of the project had been "fully vindicated".

"We will now continue to press ahead with the delivery of HS2," she said.

The minister said the network would "provide extra space for more trains and more passengers" and "generate thousands of jobs across the UK and provide opportunities to boost skills".

The first phase of the network will run from London to Birmingham

"It is part of the Government's long-term economic plan to build a stronger, more competitive economy and  secure a better future for Britain," she said.

"HS2 is also essential in helping rebalance UK growth - bringing greater prosperity to the Midlands and the North - and we are continuing with the crucial business of getting the scheme ready for construction in 2017," she added.

Emma Crane, campaign director of the HS2 Alliance, said the group was "very disappointed" with the Supreme Court's ruling, but added: "It is absolutely not the end of the road. We believe this is a wrong decision."

She accused the Government of "riding roughshod" over its obligations on the environment and said the group was speaking to its lawyers with a view to making a complaint to the European Commission on the issue.

Hilary Wharf, director of the HS2 Action Alliance, added: "We will continue to press the Government to meet its environmental obligations. The Government should be safeguarding our environment for future generations and it is simply the fact that HS2 is an unnecessary, hugely damaging project environmentally."

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

00.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Unemployment Rate Falls To 7.1% In Job Surge

The UK unemployment rate fell to 7.1% during the three months to the end of November, prompting concerns of a rise in mortgage rates.

It was the biggest ever quarterly increase in employment. A total of 280,000 jobs were created in the period.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the number of those jobless fell by 167,000 between September and November, to 2.32 million.

The ONS said a total of 30.15 million people are now in work. The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance last month fell by 24,000 to 1.25 million, the ONS said.

It said average earnings increased by 0.9% in the year to November - excluding bonuses. The pay figure was unchanged on the previous month.

Base rate and unemployment rate since June 1992

The drop in the unemployment rate has potential implications for both savers and borrowers.

The Bank of England's monetary policy committee said it would consider a base rate rise, from the current record low of 0.5%, when the unemployment rate reached 7%.

The 0.5% is the lowest sustained base rate since 1964.

Forecasters had not expected the threshold to be reached until later in the year.

The 7% jobless rate will not trigger an automatic rate rise, according to the bank.

The latest unemployment rate of 7.1% is down by 0.5% from June-August, and by 0.6% from a year earlier.

Youth unemployment also fell, by 1.0% on the quarter.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

00.11 | 0 komentar | Read More