Independent Age has found that 49% of older people in England who will lose their Winter Fuel Payment said they were planning to only heat and spend time in one room. A similar proportion (43%) think they will have to wear coats and hats indoors to keep warm.

The 'ban on acquisition tariffs' is a large part of the reason why energy bills remain high, and now it looks like this could last until at least 2026 under proposals by regulator Ofgem.

Energy firms use RTS to switch a meter between peak and off-peak rates, so customers can have energy deals that charge them less at certain times, normally overnight. The problem is that the BBC has wanted to shut down BBC 4 longwave for years, and has only kept it running in order to run RTS meters .

Barclays' consumer spend report, which analyses millions of customer transactions, reveals that overall spending increased 1.2 per cent year-on-year in September. The biggest increase came from 'non-essential' spending at 2.7 per cent, as discounts incentivised shoppers to splash the cash on clothing, health and beauty.

This week, new tipping legislation came into force. It means restaurants and the like must share out tips to workers in a fair and transparent way. But what is it with all of the new behavioural economics tricks trying to guilt-trip us loyal patrons into tipping with gimmicks.

The Ofgem price cap will rise to £1,717 on 1 October - but could then fall to £1,697 in January, and keep falling during much of 2025, according to analysis by Cornwall Insight, which has accurately predicted price cap movements for many years.

Pensioners continue to slam the Government for making changes to the Winter Fuel Payment in the face of rising energy bills. The annual tax-free payment of between £100 and £300 was introduced to help pensioners with the cost of heating their homes in winter.

Most retirees are missing out on Winter Fuel Payments worth £100 to £300 a year, but there are other ways of getting help with energy bills this winter, from Pension Credit to council grants.

Over 80,000 solar panels were installed on UK homes throughout the first seven months of 2024, a 19% reduction on the 106,000 installed during the same period of 2023. The dip in installations in 2024 could be due to the UK having the coolest summer since 2015, while 2023 was one of the warmest summers on record.

At the moment, switching broadband provider can be a complicated, time-consuming process that can leave households without internet access for the better part of two weeks in many instances. But the long-awaited one touch switching service aims to simplify and speed up the process.

Retailers are taking matters into their own hands as they introduce new, wide-ranging measures to crack down on organised criminals targeting their stores. With this has also come some outrage from shoppers who feel inconvenienced by the introduction of security tags on basic items, and the increased use of CCTV. We look at what measures the major supermarkets have taken to stop the scourge of shoplifting.

Heat pumps have clear benefits when it comes to producing greener electricity - but they do have some potential drawbacks, and one is noise. The perceived noise of heat pumps can be more of a nuisance, depending on where you are relative to the pump. However, there are some ways to reduce this.

The Resolution Foundation has warned of a 'weak' living standards outlook for middle-income households in a report published on Thursday. The left-leaning think tank claimed the prospects were 'even worse' for poorer families, who could lose out if ministers press ahead with benefit cuts set by the previous Conservative government. Rachel Reeves will announce her first Autumn Budget on 30 October. Speculation is mounting that significant changes could be made to capital gains tax, pensions and inheritance tax.

More parents are shopping second-hand for uniforms in order to cope with the cost of their children growing out of them and changing schools. As many as 47% of parents are buying, or have previously bought, second-hand school uniforms, with another 28% willing to do so in future, data from parcel delivery firm Yodel reveals.

Regulator Ofgem is proposing trimming the standing charge by £20 to £100 a year to remove the part that pays for supplier operating costs. But swapping the cost over to unit rates means many homes face unavoidable bill hikes.

During the cost of living crisis, supermarkets and other retailers have come under fire for introducing a two-tier pricing structure. An investigation by consumer website Which? has discovered 'concerning membership pricing practices' at Boots, Superdrug and supermarkets.

Some of Britain's least energy efficient homes could see their annual energy bill rise by more than £550 from the start of October, according to Rightmove. The average home currently pays bills of £1,568 a year, with prices limited by the Ofgem energy price cap , but this will rise to £1,717 from 1 October. However, those in poorly-insulated homes could see much larger increases.

HMRC is expected to collect almost £18billion in dividend tax in 2024/25, and the number of those paying will have doubled since 2021/22. Nearly 3.6million taxpayers are expected to pay a tax on their dividends, according to a Freedom of Information request by investment platform AJ Bell.

Energy bills are set to rise by £146 in just a few months' time, but taking out a cheap fixed rate now could help offset any price increase. If the fixed rate is cheaper than the one likely to come in in October - and it's a big if - then households will save money on their energy bills.

Broadly speaking, most of us don't like to do big clear outs, especially when you might have collected so much stuff (that you deem useless), which could fill an entire room.

The water regulator today called for major improvements in customer service after finding that some households were not getting the support they should. Some were not given water on time - or at all.

In part one of a new guide on cohabitation, Stephen Gold debunks common myths about the legal rights of unmarried couples. What rights do cohabiting partners have after a split, and do 'common law' spouses really exist?

My tenants fitted a smart meter in my home without my permission, and I don't want it there. They say they'll pay to have the meters removed but the supplier has just turned off the smart functionality. I'm concerned about leaving them in dumb mode. Can I get a traditional meter again?

There is a storm coming for broadband prices, and the poorest households will struggle the most. Astonishingly, this is all totally fine with the regulator, Ofcom, which cares more about prices being clear than fair.

I have complained to British Gas that I do not have a smart meter display at my new address. Originally, they informed me that there were none in stock and that I could not lodge a request for one to be supplied when they got some more.