Archive for the ‘Times Online’ Category
Regulator investigates £50m gas overcharging claims against npower – Times Online
Posted on: May 24, 2008
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Millions of consumers may have been overcharged by at least £25 on their gas bills by one of the biggest energy companies, The Times has learnt.
Ofgem, the energy regulator, is investigating claims that up to 2.2 million customers of npower may have been billed too much for gas usage. Energywatch, the energy watchdog, believes that excess charges could total more than £50 million.
The problem has come to light after readers of The Times uncovered apparent flaws in npower’s billing systems and alerted the watchdog, which referred the matter to Ofgem.
Energywatch is urging all npower’s gas customers to check their bills for the past 12 months. A spokesman said: “We think up to 2.2 million npower customers could have suffered from the same problem that Times readers have identified. If we are proved correct we want to know what the company will be doing to compensate those who have lost out.”
The problem centres on how many units of gas npower is entitled to charge customers each year at the higher of its two rates. In literature and on its website, the company states that the higher charge applies to a maximum of 4,572 units per annum — after which customers pay at a lower rate.
However, the company claims this figure refers to a “tariff year”, not a calendar year. In 2007, npower’s “tariff year” lasted only seven months — from April to November, when the tariff was altered — meaning that many customers ended up paying significantly more than 4,572 units at the higher rate over the course of the year.
Consumers are already facing sharply higher energy costs. Since January 2006 the average annual household energy bill has risen from £735 to £1,048, according to uSwitch, the price-comparison website. The increase for npower customers has been even steeper, from £671 to £1,056.
Since the start of 2006 npower’s gas customers have suffered no fewer than four price increases. In January 2006 npower put up prices by 13.7 per cent, and followed this up with further rises of 15 per cent in March and 17.2 per cent in October.
There was a 16 per cent cut in 2007 but this was more than wiped out by a further 17.2 per cent rise in January 2008. A typical npower gas customer now faces an annual bill of £631, compared with £466 at the start of 2006.
Domestic energy bills could rise by a further 25 per cent this year as the wholesale cost of gas surges higher.
Microsoft launches advertisements on mobiles in battle with Google – Times Online
Posted on: May 23, 2008
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Microsoft has opened a new front in the battle with Google, the search engine group, in the increasingly ferocious struggle for control of the online services market.
The software giant has said that users of its popular e-mail and instant messaging tools on mobile phones will display advertisements for the first time. Those using Windows Live on phones will also see ads.
Mobile telephony is regarded as an increasingly important component of the digital advertising market as new devices, such as Apple’s iPhone, improve the use of web-based services.
While it represents a small part of spending on digital advertising, it has significant potential because of the ability for advertising to be coupled with location using GPS.
Microsoft bought ScreenTonic, an advertising platform, which was an early leader in delivering advertisements to mobile phones, for an undisclosed sum last year.
Microsoft, whose share of the search market has slipped as Google’s has grown, is trying to recover the initiative in the online advertising market, which is expected to double in size to $80 billion by 2010.
Google has built a $20 billion (£10.2 billion)-a-year business from online advertising, mostly from sponsored links next to search results. It began testing a mobile version of its search-based advertising service in 2006.
Mobile advertising spending in Western Europe is expected to rise from $1 billion in 2007 to $1.5 billion this year, according to eMarketer, the research firm.
Microsoft launches advertisements on mobiles in battle with Google – Times Online
Posted on: May 23, 2008
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Microsoft has opened a new front in the battle with Google, the search engine group, in the increasingly ferocious struggle for control of the online services market.
The software giant has said that users of its popular e-mail and instant messaging tools on mobile phones will display advertisements for the first time. Those using Windows Live on phones will also see ads.
Mobile telephony is regarded as an increasingly important component of the digital advertising market as new devices, such as Apple’s iPhone, improve the use of web-based services.
While it represents a small part of spending on digital advertising, it has significant potential because of the ability for advertising to be coupled with location using GPS.
Microsoft bought ScreenTonic, an advertising platform, which was an early leader in delivering advertisements to mobile phones, for an undisclosed sum last year.
Microsoft, whose share of the search market has slipped as Google’s has grown, is trying to recover the initiative in the online advertising market, which is expected to double in size to $80 billion by 2010.
Google has built a $20 billion (£10.2 billion)-a-year business from online advertising, mostly from sponsored links next to search results. It began testing a mobile version of its search-based advertising service in 2006.
Mobile advertising spending in Western Europe is expected to rise from $1 billion in 2007 to $1.5 billion this year, according to eMarketer, the research firm.
- In: 'shunned Josef Fritzl' | - | At | brothel | prostitutes | Scared | Times Online
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The Josef Fritzl case has provoked huge public soul-searching in Austria
A barman at a brothel frequented by Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who imprisoned his own daughter in a dungeon under his house, has told how some of the prostitutes were so frightened by his perversions that they refused to accept him as a client.
He listed various extreme demands made by the retired electrical engineer, who liked to inflict pain on the women and asked them to act like corpses.
Christoph F, 38, worked at the Villa Ostende in Linz for six years and said that Mr Fritzl, a regular customer, was notorious for being “domineering” towards the staff.
“Ninety-five per cent of the guests are entirely normal, 3 per cent are slightly ‘derailed’, but Fritzl belonged to the last 2 per cent of extreme perverts, who are surely mentally deranged,” Mr F told the Oesterreich newspaper.
He said that some of the prostitutes would refuse to go upstairs with him – which was extremely rare in this business” – because of demands including sadism and “demanding that a girl should pretend to be a corpse.”
Prostitution is legal in Austria, and the Villa Ostende charges its customers €150 an hour. Most of the prostitutes come from Eastern Europe and change every few weeks.
The barman said that Mr Fritzl, who kept his daughter Elisabeth captive in the cellar of the family home for 24 years and fathered seven children by her, was a longstanding customer renowned for his meanness.
“I was working there for six years and Fritzl would come regularly. I will never forget his stinginess,” he said. “If he would consume drinks for €97 and would pay with a €100 bill – he would demand the €3 back.
“At the bar he was domineering. If he liked a girl he would order champagne for her, but after a short while he would start behaving like a headmaster with pupils and say things like ‘Sit straight!’ or ‘Don’t speak nonsense!’. Such behaviour is unusual in sex clubs.”
In the aftermath of the Fritzl case, the Austrian Parliament is to discuss the introduction of more severe punishments for sex offenders.
The Nationalrat will discuss the case tomorrow, when MPs will debate a motion on whether to change the law to introduce tougher penalties for rapists, as well as to allow criminal records to be kept for a longer period of time.
Despite the fact that Mr Fritzl had a previous conviction for rape he was allowed to adopt, or become the foster parent, of three of the children claiming he was their grandfather. This is because Austrian law sees files on convictions for sex offences removed from the records after ten to 15 years.
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