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Npower announce rises in energy prices
The Npower energy supplier has announced that from the 1st October they will be increasing the price of their electricity by 7.2% and the price of their gas by 15.7%.
This announcement has made Npower the fifth major energy supplier in the UK to announce rises in their energy prices this summer, following increases from British Gas, Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern Energy and E.On.
Out of the six main energy suppliers, only EDF Energy is yet to announce a rise in their energy prices. However, EDF Energy have recently withdrawn their cheapest fixed price energy plan, which suggests that they are expected to shortly announce a similar rise in their energy prices.
Npower have indicated that the volatile wholesale price of electricity is having…
Posted in Energy
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House prices predicted to fall in the next quarter
A recent survey has suggested that surveyors are still showing pessimism in the housing market.
The survey also indicated that estate agents were only able to sell an average of 14.2 properties last month, the lowest figure for 2 years. Furthermore, there has been an increase in the average number of houses on an estate agents books from 69.7 houses to 70.2.
The housing market has been been slow for a while, and the figures for July show that house prices have fallen slightly. According to a survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), the majority of surveyors are expecting this trend to continue for the rest of the quarter.
Some research conducted by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has suggested that…
Posted in Finance
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New fears over salmonella superbug
An outbreak of a powerful strain of salmonella that began in Africa has been found in the UK, Denmark and France.
According to researchers, this new strain has developed a resistance to many of the strongest antibiotics that are normally used to treat the bug. The researchers are calling for closer global monitoring of this strain of salmonella.
There are millions of salmonella infections around the world each year. Most cases are not very serious and only occasionally can be life threatening. The S. Kentucky strain of salmonella has become resistant to Ciprofloxacin, which is often used treat many of the severe cases of the infection. The strain first came about in the 1990s, but by 2002 there was only a small handful of these…
Posted in Health
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New DVLA application process to encourage organ donations
When you apply for a new driving license, you will now be asked to state whether you want to be an organ donor. The new government scheme hopes to increase the numbers of organ donors in the UK. A similar scheme was tried in the state of Illinois in America and was shown to increase the number of people who registered as an organ donor.
In the UK, about one third of people are registered as organ donors. However, most research has suggested that approximately 90% of people would be agree to be an organ donor. Experts believe that new methods need to be introduced to encourage more people to register, leading to some debate over how to improve the rate of new donor registrations.…
Posted in Health
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Banks to publish interest rates on accounts statements
New guidance is to be released by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) at the end of this year. It will recommend that banks start publishing the current interest rates that are applied to every customer’s bank and savings accounts on their bank statements.
Mark Hoban, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, has confirmed that he is fully backing this new guidance as it will help to promote transparency. In an interview with the Moneysavingsexpert.com website, he suggested that this is an important practice for the banks to adopt as it would help people to shop around for the best interest rates.
Moneysavingsexpert.com began a campaign in 2009 to force the banks to publish the interest rates of an account on the bank statements which they…
Posted in Finance
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AXA calls for government action on referral fees
The French insurance firm AXA has called for the government to take action and cut the fees that personal injury lawyers are able to charge to liable insurance companies in ‘no win, no fee’ cases.
In a ‘no win, no fee’ personal injury claim, the lawyers’ charges are claimed from the insurance company that the claim has been brought against. This practice has led to a profitable business for many solicitors firms and insurance companies and has led to the development of a ‘referral industry’ over the past 20 years.
In the 1990s, strict regulations that had governed the marketing of law services were lifted in order to encourage more competition and provide cheaper prices for customers. This has allowed personal injury lawyers to buy…
Posted in Finance
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