Archive for the ‘Consumer matters’ Category
Do we really live in “this grumpy democracy where everyone has a voice”?
April 30th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Recently, I was a speaker at a breakfast seminar organised by the Westbourne Communications agency in central London. The title of the session was “Stakeholder Challenge And Influence: Lessons For The Utilities Industry”. I was invited in my capacity as the Chair of the Customer Challenge Group at South East Water to talk about different […]
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Why citizens and consumers often need a nudge
April 25th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
In 2008, a book was published which proved seminal in discussions about how people make decisions and how they can be encouraged to make better decisions. It was called “Nudge” and written by two American academics called Richard H Thaler & Cass R Sunstein. I have reviewed the work here. Today Sunstein has an article in the […]
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How can the consumer voice be heard in the regulated sectors? (2)
April 17th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
This week, I was a speaker at a breakfast seminar organised by the Westbourne Communications agency in central London. The snappy title of the session was “Stakeholder Challenge And Influence: Lessons For The Utilities Industry”. I was invited in my capacity as the Chair of the Customer Challenge Group at South East Water to talk about different consumer models in the regulated utilities. […]
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How can the consumer voice be heard in the regulated sectors? (1)
April 15th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
This morning, I was a speaker at a breakfast seminar organised by the Westbourne Communications agency in central London. The snappy title of the session was “Stakeholder Challenge And Influence: Lessons For The Utilities Industry”. I was invited in my capacity as the Chair of the Customer Challenge Group at South East Water to talk about different consumer models in the regulated utilities. […]
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Now a competitor to Royal Mail is delivering some of my mail
April 2nd, 2014 by Roger Darlington
For almost a decade now, Royal Mail has faced competition. However, almost all this competition has taken the form of other licensed mail operators collecting and sorting mail from selected business customers and then injecting that mail into the Royal Mail network for final delivery to homes and businesses. This form of competition is called […]
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What now for consumer representation in the UK?
March 28th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
As I explained in this posting, Consumer Futures – formerly Consumer Focus – is about to transfer to Citizens Advice. The organisation has put together a short document to capture the essence of its time as Consumer Focus and Consumer Futures, so that it is on record for future interested parties and as a handover […]
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The end of the dream that was Consumer Focus
March 25th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
At the time of the last Labour Government, there was a grand project to pull together all the statutory consumer bodies – most representing consumers in a particular regulated sector – into one integrated consumer voice. Ofcom resisted the inclusion of its newly-formed Consumer Panel, the Department of Transport kept Passenger Focus outside the scheme, […]
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Only two water companies fast-tracked by regulator Ofwat in price review
March 10th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
For the past two years, I have been working hard chairing the Customer Challenge Group of South East Water which has had to submit views on the company’s business plan for 2015-2020 to the water regulator Ofwat. Each water company in England & Wales has a CCG which has been doing the same thing. This is an important […]
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John Lewis overtakes Marks & Spencer in the battle for the consumer
March 7th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Following the crisis at the Co-operative Bank, it’s great to see another co-operative, the John Lewis Partnership doing so well. It does not have as many stores or as high profits as Marks & Spencer, but it does now have a higher turnover and a much better appreciation of consumer needs. As a partnership. John […]
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My interview in “Utility Week” on my role in the water sector
January 21st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Last month, I did a blog posting about the report I had drafted for the water regulator Ofwat on the business plan for 2015-2020 of the regional water company South East Water . This work was done in my capacity as the independent chair of the Customer Challenge Group of South East Water. The magazine for the energy and […]
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