You and Yours

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You and Yours: Insurance loyalty, Bingo halls, Higher energy bills

10/02/2022

Insurance loyalty, Bingo halls, Higher energy bills

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, Insurance loyalty, Bingo halls, Higher energy bills

The ban on the loyalty penalty. Wooing back customers to bingo halls. Higher energy bills.

Complaints that insurers are still overcharging loyal customers despite a new ban. How Bingo halls are trying to tempt back customers. Why higher energy bills are here to stay.

It's now been a month since the regulator banned insurance companies from charging loyal customers more than new ones.
It's a big change in the rules. It took a super complaint, a huge investigation by the competition watchdog and a lot of pressure on the insurance industry to get the new reforms over the line. Until the end of last year, insurers would keep their best deals for new customers. Those who stuck with the same company could end up paying hundreds of pounds more. All that was meant to end on January 1st this year when the Financial Conduct Authority brought in new rules. We investigate complaints from listeners who say their premiums have shot up despite the changes. We also speak to Charlotte Clark, Director of Regulation at the Association of British Insurers about why some customers are still seeing big rises.

We take a look at how new and established bingo operators are trying to woo back customers after a difficult time during the pandemic. In 2005, there were around 600 halls across the UK. Last year there were only 360 left. Our reporter, Bob Walker, goes to Beeston near Nottingham, to speak to bingo customers and people working in the industry.

It's been a week since the huge rise in energy bills was announced by the regulator, Ofgem. From April, the average bill in Britain will rise by 54 percent. That's an increase of £693 a year on average for every household. In the last week we've been hearing some detail on how Government will cushion the blow with loans and discounts on our bills and how these will work in practice. But are high energy bills the new normal? We speak to Professor Sir Dieter Helm, an economist at Oxford University, who has advised the UK Government on energy policy.


Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Tara Holmes

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You and Yours

Insurance loyalty, Bingo halls, Higher energy bills

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