The functions of the National Electrity Consumer Council and the Regional Committees were transferred on November 7th to the new Gas and Electricity Consumers Council. The new Council will be known as EnergyWatch and has been found a home at Abford House, 15 Wilton St., London SW1V 1LT, telephone 0207 931 0977.
New Member Graham Palmer has bravely taken on the mantle of Chairman of Exeter Group, arguably the most innovative of all the affiliated Consumer Groups. Other Groups which think they should be awarded this accolade should contact the Editor with reasons for this point of view which may even be published.
Readers are invited to send to the Editor details of what they consider to be a really clever, underhand and dishonest trading practice. Submissions will be published and at the end of the year readers will be invited to select the one they think should receive the award. Exactly what this will be has yet to be worked out, but, again, suggestions are welcome.
This is The Holy Grail for Internet users, or they think it is. However, some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who offered this facility found that they were losing money because of the way they were charged and also found themselves inundated with subscribers so that the service was often overloaded.
Now there is a new wholesale service from BT for ISPs and FREESERVE, perhaps the highest profile ISP to cap its service because it could not handle the demand, is relaunching its `Anytime' unmetered service, confident that its network now has sufficient capacity to cope with the expected rush of new subscribers. For £12.99 per month you can surf the net without worrying about clocking up a huge `phone bill.
But is this a good idea? The majority of people access the internet via a normally charged phone line and, unless they spent a great deal of time there, they have little incentive to change. The Editor, for instance, uses Virgin as his ISP and has registered the local call phone number that his computer dials when accessing the net with BT `Friends and Family' as his `Best Friend'. This is about the cheapest you can get with BT. The experts at the Daily Telegraph calculate that you would have to spend ten hours or more linked-up to the net per month before it becomes worth while paying for unmetered access.
With many ISPs providing a free link-up, how does one compare them? One thing to watch is the cost of help, which can be expensive. Some ISPs charge premium rates for their on-line support, though Waitrose (0800 072 7666) provides a free service and Madasafish and ClaraNet charge standard rates (where do they get these strange names from?).
More contributions please
Many thanks to the contributors to this issue. The copy date for the next issue of Consumer News will be February 23rd, plenty of time to write the article that you have been promising yourself (and me) to do.
Please send contributions to me, John Brown, at No. 6 Priory Gardens, Dartford, Kent. DAl 2BE or fax them to me on 01322 280673 (also my phone number). If you can copy material onto a floppy disk it would be appreciated or you could send an e-mail attachment to editor@ncf.info.
Perhaps the most active of the NfCG Networks, the Food Network, is looking for new members. It is opinions we want, not necessarily to attend meetings, though there are some very interesting meetings in various parts of the country, particularly since the Food Standards Agency has been holding open Board Meetings in various centres.
NfCG is constantly being asked to comment on discussion documents, consultation papers and the like,. and we need more help in reading the papers and suggesting replies. Our replies are valued because they are based on real grass roots opinions. Knowledge of our concerns and aspirations about a whole range of issues is sought, such as food safety, labelling, slaughterhouses, organic foods, pesticide use, packaging, nutritional aspects of food content and many other issues. However our grass roots are a bit thin and we want to strengthen them, so please become a blade or even a root in the Food Network. The organiser is STELLA WALSH whose address is 527 Leeds Road, Scholes, Leeds LS15 4DA, phone, at Leeds Metropolitan University, 0113 2833491. She is waiting anxiously for you to contact her.
Unfortunately Kathy Liggins did not stay long at our office in Brunei University (see last issue) but Individual Members and Groups are welcome to contact NfCG Secretary, Stella Nicholas, at her home - 180 High Street West Molesey, Surrey. KT8 2LX, phone (evenings) 020 8979 0871. We are looking for a replacement Assistant Secretary as fast as we can and the fax and message taking facility at Brunel still works and Stella calls in almost every day.
Margaret Williams (Executive Committee Member) received a parcel with the following address:
MARGRET WILLIAMS
14 GORPELST
LOTH, LN11 9JX.
From some third world country, no doubt. Not a bit of it, the package was from SAGA. I doubt whether even the most second sighted postal sorter could have untangled that address without the post code which, happily, was correct, brickbat to SAGA.
The Consumer Policy Institute, launched last Autumn, has ambitious plans for the future. It hopes to fill the gaps which consumer organisations know exist, by working on two strands
One - to commission research on areas of concern, and, two - to co-ordinate the research into consumer matters so that it can be guided towards existing research reports.
Director Geoffrey Woodroffe is looking at several possible projects for development and, together with CPI Board Chairman, Marie Jennings, is exploring the possibility of a Lecture Series in London in Autumn 2001. Consumer News will publish more details as they become available.
Sue Payne is Honorary Secretary of the CPI and can be contacted at 30 Oaklands, Somerford Rd., Cirencester GL7 1FA -phone/fax 01285 643 707 or sue.payne@ukonline.co.uk
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