Shield poorer households from costs of clean energy plans, says Ofgem
Britain’s clean energy future risks creating “winners and losers” if lower-income households are not shielded from the costs added to energy bills to pay for it, the head of the energy regulator has said.Jonathan Brearley, Ofgem’s chief executive, said a “systematic approach” to sharing the rising costs of the government’s green power ambitions was needed to avoid poorer households facing soaring monthly payments.The regulator for Great Britain launched a root-and-branch review on Wednesday into how the costs of upgrading the energy networks can be recovered through home energy bills in a way that is fairer.The review could include plans to cut standing charges for lower-income households while wealthier customers pay a higher cost for upgrading the energy system.Brearley told the Guardian: “All of these changes that one might make to create a better energy system will have winners and losers.
It may well be that the best thing to do is to have a more systematic answer to the question of affordability,”This would allow the country to make sweeping changes to the energy system “without always living in fear that you’re going to make some people on low income even worse off”, he added,Energy affordability has become a rising concern in Whitehall in recent years as gas and electricity bills have become a larger part of each household’s total costs, while the levies used to support grid upgrades and low-carbon energy projects have become a larger part of energy bills,This trend is likely to accelerate, according to industry experts,As Great Britain begins to rely more on cheaper homegrown renewable energy the cost of electricity may fall but the fixed costs levied on to bills will continue to rise to cover the costs of a changing energy system.
Currently the cost of maintaining the pipes and wires that deliver the gas and electricity to homes and businesses is recouped through standing charges on home energy bills.These fixed daily charges, which also include the cost of fitting smart meters and other policy costs, are applied to energy bills regardless of how much energy a bill payer uses.This means cash-strapped households who are unable to heat their homes still bear the full brunt of covering energy network costs while vulnerable consumers – who are often high users of energy for medical or health needs – will also end up paying above the odds to maintain the grid.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionThe standing charge has ballooned in recent years from an average of £182.27 a year five years ago to an average of £334.
07 a year – or almost a fifth of the average annual energy bill.These costs have been described by the consumer champion Martin Lewis as “a moral hazard”, and could climb further as the UK prepares to invest heavily in upgrading its electricity grids to meet the government’s goal of creating a clean energy system by 2030.“We want to get under the skin of how those costs are allocated across the system,” Brearley said.“Is it still right that we have variable charges by region? If we are wanting to encourage people to use energy when [renewable energy] is more abundant, then is there a way to allocate these costs to do this? And should this be on the volumetric charge or the standing charge?”
UK online safety law leads to 5m extra age checks a day for pornography sites
Five million extra online age checks a day are being carried out in the UK since the introduction of age-gating for pornography sites, according to new data.The Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) said there had been a sharp increase in additional age checks in the UK since Friday, when age verification became mandatory for accessing pornography under the Online Safety Act.“As a result of new codes under the Online Safety Act coming into force on Friday, we have seen an additional 5m age checks on a daily basis, as UK-based internet users seek to access sites that are age-restricted,” said Iain Corby, the executive director of the AVPA.The UK has also seen a surge in popularity of virtual private networks, which obscure a user’s real location and thus allow them to access sites blocked in their own country. Four of the top five free apps on the Apple download store in the UK are VPN apps, with Proton, the most popular, reporting a 1,800% increase in downloads
People in the UK: have you been the victim of phone theft recently?
According to data compiled by an insurance firm, nearly two in every five mobile phones stolen in Europe are taken in the UK. Claims made to the American insurance company SquareTrade showed 39% of all phone thefts across the company’s 12 European markets were in Britain.The data revealed that phone theft claims in the UK had increased by 425% since June 2021 and 42% of phone thefts in the UK occurred in London.We’d like to hear from people who have been the victim of phone theft in the UK in the last six months? Has your phone been snatched out of your hands? What happened next and how easy was it to secure your data and accounts? Did you report it to the police? Has it changed your behaviour using your phone or sense of safety on the streets? Why do you think that the UK is the phone theft capital of Europe.You can tell us if you have been the victim of phone theft in the UK by filling in the form below
UK viewers: are you watching YouTube on your TV more than other channels?
YouTube has become popular to watch on TV with children and older people choosing the video platform when they first switch on their televisions.Viewers aged 55 and over watched almost twice as much YouTube than they did in 2023, with 42% of them watching on a TV. The platform is also the most popular first TV destination for generation Alpha viewers, aged four to 15.We’d like to hear from people who watch YouTube on their TV more than other channels. When and why did your watching habits change and how does it differ to what you grew up with? What are your favourite YouTube shows and why?You can tell us why you watch YouTube more than other broadcast channels on your TV by filling in the form below
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 review: great-looking and fun, but iterative Android
Samsung’s seventh-generation Flip phone trims the fat, gains a bigger cover screen on the outside and a larger folding display on the inside, but fundamentally doesn’t reinvent the wheel.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The Galaxy Z Flip 7 joins the book-style Z Fold 7 as Samsung’s two flagship folding phones for 2025
YouTube most popular first TV destination for children, Ofcom finds
Children are now heading to YouTube from the moment they turn on the television, in the latest sign of the video platform’s migration from the laptop to the living room.YouTube is the most popular first TV destination for generation Alpha, according to a comprehensive survey of the UK’s viewing habits by Ofcom, the communications regulator.One in five young TV viewers aged from four to 15 turned straight to the platform last year. The survey showed Netflix close behind. While BBC One was in the top five first destinations, children were just as likely to choose BBC iPlayer
The trillion-dollar AI arms race is here
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. Johana Bhuiyan and Dara Kerr here, filling in for Blake Montgomery, who’s enjoying the beach but likely getting sunburned.Tech companies are fighting to claim the title of having the world’s most advanced AI. The goal is to supercharge their bottom line and keep investors and Wall Street happy. But developing the world’s most advanced AI means spending billions on data centers and other physical infrastructure to house and power the supercomputers needed for AI
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