Ofgem Pledges To 'Simplify Energy Market'

Ofgem has published plans that it says will create a "simpler, clearer and fairer" energy market.

The regulator outlined a range of measures including scrapping confusing tariffs and forcing suppliers to tell consumers the cheapest deal available.

It comes after the Prime Minister took the sector by surprise when he vowed to introduce laws to make energy suppliers give customers the best value tariffs - rather than simply inform consumers what is available, as unveiled by Ofgem.

Energy Minister John Hayes later insisted the Government was only considering introducing such a law.

Ofgem also extended proposals unveiled last year to simplify tariff structures and limit the numbers of different tariffs offered across the whole market.

It proposed that suppliers offer four core tariffs per fuel type - electricity and gas - cutting out the "baffling" array of deals currently on offer.

So-called "dead" tariffs that are no longer available will be banned to reduce the risk of people paying too much, Ofgem said.

It also wants to stop price increases or other changes to fixed-term tariffs, and introduce new ways of helping consumers switch energy accounts.

The watchdog's chief executive, Alistair Buchanan, said the proposals followed input from thousands of consumers.

"Our plans will put an end to consumers being confused by complex tariffs and will usher in a simpler, clearer, fairer and more competitive energy market for all consumers," he said.

"I am glad to say suppliers have already responded with some initiatives, but these don't go far enough. 

"Ofgem is determined to press forward with proposals to deliver for consumers the most far-reaching shakeup of the retail energy market since competition was introduced."

The executive director of consumer group Which?, Richard Lloyd, broadly welcomed the proposals.

"Along with the Prime Minister's promise to ensure suppliers put their customers on their lowest tariffs, this is another big step towards helping people get the best price for their energy," he said.

"Our own research shows the market is far too complicated, with only one in 10 people able to find the cheapest deal.

"These proposals will boost customer power, making it much easier to shop around, and should increase the pressure on the energy companies to keep their prices in check."

The Energy Secretary Ed Davey said he had been pushing for the measures for some time.

"They represent a big step forwards in reforming our energy market to help millions of households get a better deal on their energy bills," he said.

""I want an energy market where the suppliers have to work hard to win your business, and then work hard to keep it."

But the shadow energy and climate change secretary, Caroline Flint, argued that Ofgem's proposals were "only tinkering at the margins".

"It is deeply disappointing that after spending nearly two years putting these proposals together Ofgem has once again ducked the opportunity to get tough with the energy giants," she said.

"We need to open up the books of the energy companies, but these reforms do nothing to improve the transparency of the prices these firms charge their customers."

Ofgem is legally required to go through an extensive consultation process but wants to start to introduce its reforms by summer 2013.

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Google Beats Rivals With Low Price Laptop

Google is launching its new low-priced Chromebook laptop as rivals Microsoft and Apple prepare to release their latest gadgets.

The lightweight computer will sell in the UK for around £200 and $249 in the US. It will go on sale early next week.

It is being made in a partnership with Samsung, which also makes smartphones and tablet computers that run on Google's Android software.

The laptop, which does not have a hard drive, will run on an operating system revolving around Google's Chrome Web browser.

It functions like a terminal dependent on an Internet connection to get to information and applications stored in large data centres run by Google or other technology providers.

It is the least expensive Chromebook that Google has released in the two years that it has been working on the product line.

Google and Samsung released a slightly more sophisticated Chromebook priced at $449 (£280) in the late spring.

Now it appears to be trying to get ahead of its rivals.

Microsoft is poised to release Windows 8, a dramatic makeover of its famous operating system, on October 26.

And Apple says it plans to show off a new product Tuesday. The event is widely expected to be the coming-out party for a slightly smaller version of its iPad.

"This is a big step in the journey for us," said Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of Chrome and apps. "I think it's generally an exciting time in the computing industry."

Despite the low price, the new Chromebook will face a tough time winning over consumers because it is notset up like a traditional PC with a hard drive, said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

"A lot of people are going to see it and think, 'Once I have it, what exactly do I do with it?'" Milanesi predicted.

Like tablets, the discount Chromebook will rely on a computer chip design known as ARM, instead of Intel microprocessors. The ARM architecture is more energy efficient, extending the duration of batteries between charges.

With an 11.6in (29.46cm) screen, the new Chromebooks also will have a larger display than tablets selling in the same price range.

The laptops will be set up to automatically use all of Google's services, including its search engine, Gmail and YouTube video site.

Google also is offering 100 gigabytes of free storage on computers kept in its eight data centres.

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

PPI Scandal: Barclays Sets Aside Another £700m

Barclays Bank has set aside another £700m to cover its costs after a surge of customer complaints over the payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandal.

The move takes the bank's total estimated bill to £2bn.

It released a statement on Thursday afternoon which read: " Barclays has experienced higher than previously anticipated PPI claim volumes since the end of the first half, and has therefore determined that it is appropriate to provide a further £700m as at 30 September 2012.

"This is in addition to provisions recognised of £1bn in 2011 and £300m in the first quarter of 2012. Based on claims experience to date and anticipated future volumes, the resulting provision includes Barclays best estimate of expected costs of future PPI redress.

"Barclays will continue to monitor actual claims volumes and the assumptions underlying the calculation of its PPI provision."

The mis-selling of PPI, which was designed to cover payments in the event of ill health or redundancy, is set to cost the British financial services industry more than £10bn.

According to the Financial Ombudsman Service, Barclays received the most PPI complaints over the first six months of 2012, totalling 19,522.

Lloyds TSB followed next with 9,493.

The ombudsman has warned that PPI complaints are on course to more than double the 165,000 that it had anticipated this year though claims management companies - and some consumers alike - have been accused of cashing in on the scandal and inundating banks with questionable claims.

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Almost $20bn Wiped Off Google's Market Value

Google saw nearly $20bn wiped off its market value after third quarter earning figures were released prematurely by its financial printer.

The internet search and advertising giant, which recently overtook Microsoft Corp to become the second-largest US technology company, reported a 20% drop in net income to $2.18bn (£1.36bn) between July and September.

But the announcement, which was expected after the market close, was released early after financial printer RR Donnelley filed a draft of its earnings statement without authorisation on Thursday morning.

That saw $19.8bn (£12.33bn) wiped off its value by the market close and saw trading halted on the Nasdaq after losses saw the share price plummet by up to 10% at some stages.

Google also reported net revenue - excluding traffic acquisition costs - of $11.3bn (£7.04bn) for the third quarter of 2012, below Wall Street expectations of around $11.9bn (£7.41bn).

It has been struggling to turn around a loss-making Motorola Mobility it bought for $12.5bn (£7.78bn).

A spokesman said: "Earlier today RR Donnelley, the financial printer, informed us that they had filed our draft 8K earnings statement without authorisation. 

"We have ceased trading on Nasdaq while we work to finalise the document. 

"Once it's finalised, we will release our earnings, resume trading on Nasdaq and hold our earnings call as normal at 1:30 Pacific Time."

The second paragraph of the press release said "pending Larry quote", suggesting the space was reserved for comment from chief executive Larry Page.

BCG analyst Colin Gillis said: "Click prices declined for the fourth consecutive quarter after rising for eight consecutive quarters before then.

"The other bit is the Motorola millstone had been ignored by the market and - boom - now you've got weak revenue from Motorola."

Microsoft Corp also revealed its quarterly profit fell by a more than expected 22%, as sales of computers running Windows operating systems dipped.

Shares in the company fell by more than 2% in after-hours trading, with sales of PCs expected to fall this year for the first time since 2001 up against strong competition from Apple's iPad.

Microsoft is betting on the release of touch-friendly Windows 8 will boost flagging sales when it launches next week.

It said first quarter profits fell to $4.47bn (£2.79bn) and sales fell 8% to $16.01bn (£9.98bn).

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Retail Crisis: Chain Store Closures Hit 32 A Day

There has been an acceleration in the number of chain stores closing on the UK's high streets - hitting 32 a day on average amid high rent bills and the recession.

According to data released by professional services firm PwC and the Local Data Company (LDC), an average of 20 shut their doors every 24 hours in the first half of 2012.

It amounted to a net reduction of 953 shops compared to 174 shops in the whole of 2011, the research suggested.

The problem deteriorated between June and August, it was claimed, as shoppers shifted their attention to the Olympics.

Toy shops, clothes shops, jewellers, card and poster shops and furniture stores suffered particularly badly in the first half while discount and convenience stores, coffee shops, bookmakers and charity shops mostly bucked the trend.

The south east was the worst affected region in the first half with 215 net closures, followed by the West Midlands with 160 and the south west with 129.

Towns and cities badly hit included Manchester, Preston, Bristol, Croydon, Sheffield, Derby and Leicester, the report's authors said.

They suggested struggling chains mostly had themselves to blame.

Mike Jervis, PwC insolvency partner and retail specialist, said: "All retailers in distress have too many locations. The insolvencies of Game, Peacocks and Clintons demonstrated this in spades.

"Relatively long leases, with inflexible terms, have been entered into in a growth phase of the economy which is no longer appropriate.

"Where over-expansion has already taken place, retailers need to face that reality and formulate a strategic plan in partnership with landlords, not in confrontation with them."

From a net increase in 2009 of 1.2%, multiple retailers have for the second consecutive year shown a decline in their numbers from -0.25% in 2011 to -1.4% in the first half of 2012.

With consumer budgets remaining under strain ahead of the crucial Christmas trading season, retailers face the stiff challenge of boosting sales but maintaining profits.

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Apple iPad v Samsung Galaxy Copyright Appeal

By Katie Stallard, Media and Technology Corrrespondent

Apple and Samsung will return to the Court of Appeal in London today in the latest round of their global patent wars.

The two tech titans are currently embroiled in a series of lawsuits around the world as they continue to do battle over copyright, with billions of dollars at stake.

The latest case focuses on their tablet computers and Apple's claim that Samsung's Galaxy tablet copied its design for the iPad.

Apple lost the first round at the High Court in July, when the judge ruled that the Galaxy was not as "cool" as the iPad and that it gave a different overall impression, so did not infringe its copyright.

Apple will now find out if it has been successful in its appeal against the ruling.

Simon Clark, head of intellectual property at international law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner, told Sky News: "Given the huge popularity of the iPad, it was not surprising that Apple chose to appeal the decision.

"However, the judgment was given by a highly experienced and well-respected specialist intellectual property judge, and Apple will have an uphill battle to persuade the Court of Appeal to overturn his ruling.

"The Court of Appeal is always reluctant to interfere with a judge's decision on similarity comparisons, which are inevitably subjective, even if they consider that another judge may have had a different opinion."

The legal test for whether a product infringes another's registered design is whether it produces the same "overall impression on the informed user".

Judge Colin Birss ruled in July that whilst the view from the front was "very, very similar", there were significant differences in both the thinness of the tablets and the detailing on the back.

Judge Birss concluded: "The informed user's overall impression of each of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets is the following.

"From the front they belong to the family which includes the Apple design; but the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back.

"They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool. The overall impression produced is different."

Therefore, he decided, Samsung's tablets had not infringed Apple's design.

The judge ordered Apple to post the court's decision on its UK website for six months and to take out adverts in various national newspapers and magazines stating that Samsung's Galaxy Tablet computers had not infringed its copyright.

If Apple ultimately loses this case, it will have to suffer the indignity of publishing the ads and publicly stating that Samsung did not copy its design.

If Samsung loses, it could end up with a permanent ban on sales of its Galaxy tablet in the UK.

However, both sides still have one further option of an appeal to the Supreme Court and with the stakes so high it is likely that whoever loses will appeal.

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Unemployment: UK In Youth Jobs Crisis

By Gerard Tubb, North of England Correspondent

Young people are finding it increasingly difficult to get full time work as employers choose experienced candidates and fill positions quickly.

Researchers who sent out 2,000 applications from fictitious 16 to 24-year-olds found most employers did not reply to them at all.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation made the applications for more than 650 job vacancies as sales assistants, cleaners, office administrators and kitchen staff.

Each made-up candidate had at least five good GCSEs and relevant work experience.

The study found there were between 24 and 66 unemployed people for every retail vacancy, depending on the supply of jobs in different areas.

Almost eight out of ten of the positions paid under £7 an hour, and less than a quarter were offering full-time work during the day.

Chris Goulden, head of poverty at JRF, said their findings show that for young people today getting a job is a job in itself.

"It's important we have measures that provide more full-time, decent-paying jobs that can ensure work pays," he said.

"A lack of success in the jobs market saps confidence, demotivates and leaves a scar across a generation of young people, while part-time, low-pay work traps people in poverty."

At Darlington College in County Durham students are given help to try to find work, but 17-year-old Joshua Russell found it impossible to get even a part time job at the age of 16.

"I was too young and I didn't have the work experience needed. There's just too many people applying for one job and there just weren't enough available," he explained.

Laura Lennon, aged 19, took a year out before starting her journalism course, but found no-one wanted an A level student.

"I applied for Orange, on the phones, but apparently you need experience answering phones," she said.

Meanwhile a report by the TUC has found that young black men have experienced the sharpest rise in unemployment since the coalition came to power, with more than one in four of all black 16 to 24-year-olds currently out of work.

The reports, published ahead of the new unemployment figures today, followed similar studies in recent days showing a big rise in long-term unemployment among young people.

General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "The UK is in the midst of a youth jobs crisis. Over a million youngsters are out of work and many more are struggling to find the finances needed to further their education.

"Last week the Prime Minister singled out employment as a great success of the government. That's cold comfort to the one in four young black men struggling for work, or the one in six jobless young black women."

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Exclusive: Thatcher Aide To Head Bankers' Body

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

A former aide to Margaret Thatcher will be named on Wednesday as the new chairman of the British Bankers' Association (BBA) as it begins a long haul to repair the industry's battered image.

I can reveal that Sir Nigel Wicks, who served as Principal Private Secretary to Baroness Thatcher during the 1980s, will be appointed to chair the BBA following a three-month search.

Sir Nigel's appointment is expected to be announced by Anthony Browne, the new BBA chief executive, at the lobbying group's annual conference in London on Wednesday.

The BBA's board is understood to have rubber-stamped the decision.

The recruitment of Sir Nigel will be regarded as a coup for the banking sector. He will replace Marcus Agius, who resigned as chairman of both Barclays and the BBA in June, days after the bank was fined nearly £300m for attempting to manipulate the interbank borrowing rate Libor.

Sir Nigel will be the first BBA chairman for many years not to be drawn from the pool of grandees who chair Britain's big high street banks. Prior to Mr Agius, the BBA chairmanship was held by Lord Green, the trade minister who at the time chaired HSBC.

The Barclays scandal during the summer triggered a wave of recriminations which has left the reputation of British banking at a new nadir four years after a number of lenders had to be rescued using tens of billions of pounds of taxpayers' money.

The Government has since ordered a parliamentary inquiry into the industry's ethics, and last week published a bill outlining plans for radical structural reform of the industry.

Sir Nigel is well-qualified to assume the BBA helm. He is due to step down early next year as chairman of Euroclear, the settlement service for bonds, equities, funds and derivatives after six years in the role.

It is his political connections that will be most valuable to the BBA, however. Sir Nigel had a distinguished career in the civil service, working as second permanent secretary to the Treasury and later as chairman of the Committee for Standards in Public Life.

The speakers at the BBA conference will include the chairs of all the major banks as well as senior regulators and politicians.

Mr Browne is expected to back calls for a central bankers' register from which members can be struck off for malpractice. The idea was proposed by Barclays in its submission to the parliamentary inquiry and revealed by Sky News last month.

The BBA declined to comment ahead of Wednesday's announcement.

11.46 | 0 komentar | Read More