Archive for the ‘Consumer matters’ Category
How the Government proposes to help consumers
December 1st, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Water. The government is driving water market competition. Business and other non- household customers will be able to switch suppliers from 2017. Ofwat will provide an assessment by summer 2016 of the costs and benefits of extending retail competition to household water customers. Following this, the government will work with water companies to begin the […]
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The s-l-o-w decline in the use of cash
November 11th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
A couple of decades ago, I assumed that by now we would be moving rapidly to a much less cash, if not actually a cashless, society. But we are still using a lot of cash for a great many payments in spite of debit cards, credit cards, and contactless payment systems. The number of branches […]
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A week in the life of a consumer advocate
November 7th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
As I have a portfolio career currently working with six organisations, my schedule is very varied and some weeks are fuller than others in terms of meetings and events. This past week has been especially busy, with meetings every day, and three occasions in which I have chaired events. On Monday, I chaired the Customer […]
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Some consumer things that we often can’t – but should – be bothered to do
October 27th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
There’s loads of stuff we should be doing – but who has the time and who can be bothered? Consumer websites and switching services urge us to take the time to do things to save money, but we don’t, because we haven’t got time, we don’t want to learn new passwords, we’re daunted by the […]
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At last, we have switched our gas and electricity suppliers
September 26th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Although most of my work is as a consumer advocate in regulated industries, I am not a very canny consumer myself. I’ve always been so reluctant to switch suppliers, fearing that something could do wrong. So, after all the years that energy suppliers have been privatised, I have never switched either our gas or our […]
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What exactly is an executive summary?
August 12th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I am a part-time portfolio worker who represents consumers in various regulated sectors, notably communications and water. I spend a lot of time reading long, complicated documents from Government Departments, regulators and companies, many of which invite me to submit comments on these documents and to answer a host of specific questions. It is a […]
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How much can you legally pay in coins?
August 9th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
A friend has drawn my attention the little-known legal position. According to the Coinage Act of 1971, the position is as follows: 1p – for any amount not exceeding 20p 2p – for any amount not exceeding 20p 5p – for any amount not exceeding £5 10p – for any amount not exceeding £5 20p […]
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Why is opinion polling becoming harder and less reliable?
July 27th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
All the pollsters failed to forecast accurately the result of the British General Election in May 2015. We are still awaiting the outcome of an inquiry by the British Polling Council to determine what went wrong and how it can be fixed. Most of my work as a consumer advocate involves working with regulators and […]
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The need for a stronger consumer and citizen voice in regulated markets
July 20th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I recently gave my first media interview as Chair of Consumer Forum for Communications. It was to Ellen Branagh, chief journalist at Cable.co.uk, a price comparison website accredited by Ofcom. I took the opportunity to call for a stronger voice for consumer and citizen groups in regulated markets such as communications, broadcasting, energy and water. […]
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The future of our post offices
July 4th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
I’ve been interested in post offices since 1978 when I became Research Officer at the Post Office Engineering Union (POEU) which later became the National Communications Union (NCU) and is now the Communication Workers Union (CWU). I spent 24 years as a trade union official before taking early retirement. This week, I chaired the Post […]
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