4 2GM Monday August 3 2020 | the times
News
Millions of households are to save an
average of £85 a year from this autumn
as energy prices slump, a leading sup-
plier predicts.
A fall in the wholesale price of gas
and electricity since the turn of the year
is expected to reduce standard tariffs by
about 7.5 per cent in October.
Ofgem, the industry regulator, will
confirm in the coming days how a cap
on default tariff prices, introduced in
January last year, will be shifted to ac-
count for the costs faced by suppliers.
Eon, which supplies more than six
million households, said that a drama-
tic fall in demand for energy during
Covid-19 lockdowns in countries across
the world had slashed wholesale prices.
The company estimates that the low-
er cap will reduce bills by the equivalent
of almost four weeks’ energy use for an
average home. The change would affect
about 11 million households.
“People have used more energy at
home whilst in lockdown,” Michael
Lewis, the chief executive of Eon UK,
said. “But the increase in domestic use
doesn’t come close to the fall in indus-
trial energy demand or the collapse of
the oil price in the wake of global trans-
port restrictions.”
Dormant offices and factories,
grounded flights and millions of people
remaining at home “caused wholesale
energy markets to fall rapidly since the
price cap was last amended at the start
of this year”, Mr Lewis added.
“Because of this we expect a signifi-
cantly lower level when Ofgem updates
Migrant arrivals ‘to hit crisis levels without treaty’
A failure by the UK to reach a new
agreement with France on how to deal
with migrant crossings could lead to
numbers reaching “crisis” levels, a
former Border Force chief has warned.
At least 202 migrants crossed to
Britain on Thursday in 20 boats, a
record for a single day. A minister has
described the number of crossings as
“unacceptably high”.
Tony Smith, the former director-
general of UK Border Force, said that
Britain and France needed to agree a
treaty with a joint patrol whereby
migrants picked up in the Channel can
be returned to France to have asylum
claims considered there.
“What I’m advocating is that we need
to try as best we can to replicate the
juxtaposed controls for legitimate ap-
plicants in the same way as for illegiti-
mate applicants,” he said.
“If they want to come to the UK they
need to make their case on the French
side, and if they are found in the water-
ways or even make it as far as Dover we
say, ‘I’m sorry but you go back there and
that’s where you will be interviewed
and processed, on the French side’.”
Last month Priti Patel, the homesecretary, sought to blame her French
counterparts, telling MPs of the “un-
acceptable” numbers of people making
the dangerous journey in small boats.
On Saturday Chris Philp, the immi-
gration compliance minister, called on
France to be stronger on intercepting
and directing the return of boats.
Asked how hopeful he was of the
Home Office being able to reach a new
deal with France, Mr Smith said: “I
wouldn’t like to call it. All I would say is
we’ve done it before. I think there are
opportunities but there will have to be
some kind of a quid pro quo whichwould satisfy the French that this was a
measure that was designed to help both
parties, not just a one-way street where
the UK essentially is able to blockade
anybody coming over from France.”
He said that the current approach
was putting lives at risk and “fuelling
the smuggling supply chains”.
The number of migrants in small
boats intercepted by Border Force on
Friday fell to 96 but Mr Smith said that
if daily numbers were to continue in the
high hundreds “you’re going to start
getting up to the numbers that were
indeed a crisis almost 20 years ago”.Woman in cliff plunge
A woman, 65, was airlifted to
hospital in Southampton after she
tripped and fell 60ft off a cliff in
Dorset while taking photos. She
sustained serious injuries in the
fall at Old Harry Rocks, Studland
Bay. Two helicopters and lifeboats
helped rescue her. Perry Ghandi,
who witnessed the accident, said:
“By some miracle she had fallen
in water and not on the rocks.”Caesarean birth risk
Mothers who gave birth by
caesarean section were a tenth
less likely to get pregnant again, a
study of 2,000 women shows.
Penn State University in the US
found that 69 per cent of women
who had a C-section conceived
again compared with 78 per cent
of women who gave birth
naturally. The difference could be
due to scarring, researchers said.Dave and Sir David
Sir David Attenborough and the
rapper Dave are collaborating on
a TV special about animals
overcoming adversity. Planet
Earth: A Celebration will be shown
on BBC One this summer and
aims to “lift viewers’ spirits”.
Attenborough, 94, will narrate
and Dave, 22, a trained pianist,
played with the BBC Concert
Orchestra for the soundtrack.Old car reg goldplated
One of the oldest numberplates
has sold for £216,000. The “O9”
plate dates to 1904, when cars
had to display a registration
number for the first time. O
means it was the ninth car
registered in Birmingham. The
present owner’s father bought it
in 1949 for £5. It was sold by
Silverstone Auctions of Iver,
Buckinghamshire.Labour payout warning
Labour’s biggest union backer
said it would review its donations
after the party agreed payouts to
members who blew the whistle
on antisemitism. Len McCluskey,
general secretary of Unite,
warned Sir Keir Starmer that the
settlements were “an abuse of
members’ money” and claimed it
would encourage fresh claims
against the party. Seven former
party employees sued Labour
after a BBC Panorama
programme about antisemitism.
Labour did not comment.A A A A B E E G
G H H I I J L M
M M N N O P R R
R R R T T U U USolve all five clues using each
letter underneath once only1 Large estuary of NE England ( 6 )2 --- le Fay, Arthurian sorceress ( 6 )3 South American feline species (6)4 Glorious victory (7)5 Dependent ( 7 )Quintagram® No 75 8
Solutions MindGames in Times
Cryptic clues every day onlineAn effort to attract young people to the
Lake District has backfired, residents
complain.
Richard Leafe, the chief executive of
the Lake District National Park, called
in December for the holiday site to
“encourage people from broader
backgrounds”, especially the young.
The region appears to have shed for-
eign visitors but not everyone is pleased
with the new crowd. Residents say that
Rowdy ‘Magaluf ’ crowd leave Lake District shuddering
the lakes have become “like Blackpool
seafront”.
Groups sit around drinking, smash
fences for firewood, camp illegally,
dump litter and terrify animals, they
say. Roads have been blocked and
human waste has been left in gardens of
the picturesque Cumbrian villages.
“We have got a more diverse
demographic visiting,” Mr Leafe said.
He acknowledged that a “small
minority” had been causing problems
which “does tend to be people in the
new audience demographic of theyounger visitors” or individuals who
had not visited since childhood.
“Although we have seen a minority of
people not behaving in a way that is
appropriate for a national park, the last
thing I want to do is come across as
unwelcoming to those people, because
I want them to come back,” he added.
“The economy of the lakes needs it.”
Joanne Bland, who runs the Yew Tree
Farm in Rosthwaite with her husband,
said that it had been “total bedlam”.
“The people we were getting should
have been in Magaluf,” she added.“They can carry crate after crate of beer
up to these beautiful swimming spots
but they can’t carry anything back.”
Mrs Bland added that her husband had
been abused by people parking in fields.
Andrew Slattery, assistant chief con-
stable at Cumbria police, said that prob-
lems with illegal camping had persisted
since the lockdown.
“They bring all their beer and drugs
paraphernalia then walk away from the
lot,” he said. He stressed, however, that
many younger people had come to en-
joy the area and behaved responsibly.Charlotte Wace
Northern Correspondent
Households get
£85 bonus as
cost of gas and
electricity falls
the price cap next month. Such a move
also means customers should see the
benefit of lower bills in time for the
colder months of the year.”
When the price cap was last amended
in April, Ofgem reduced it by £17 —
from £1,179 each year to £1,162.
Jonathan Brearley, the chief execu-
tive of Ofgem, told The Times last week
that the cap was “a really good mecha-
nism” for protecting consumers from
unfair pricing.
The regulator is watching closely as
the economic impact of the Covid-
crisis raises fears in the energy industry
that some customers will be left unable
to pay their bills, hitting suppliers’
finances.
“Right now, we don’t see a problem,”
Mr Brearley said. “But we will keep a
close watching brief and make sure cus-
tomers are looked after, even if a com-
pany does fail.”
The price cap has not slowed the
growth of consumers’ readiness to shop
around. While some predicted the gov-
ernment policy would deter people
from switching, Energy UK, the indus-
try trade association, estimates that
about a dozen customers changed their
supplier every minute last year.
Data compiled by the body found
that about 6.4 million households
switched their supplier last year.
The cap has already had a significant
impact on energy suppliers. Eon, the
German company that acquired
Npower last year, blamed its introduc-
tion for a 65 per cent drop in profits a
year ago. Consumers have been turning
to small and mid-sized suppliers.Callum Jones, Emily Gosden
Hello again After slimming down earlier this year, Adele shared a new hairstyle
at the weekend with her 38 million followers on Instagram. The singer, 32, paid
tribute to Beyoncé, whose music video was on television, by matching her outfit