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Four Of The Big Six Are Offering Customers Cheaper Tariffs Thanks To A Fall In Wholesale Costs - But Only When They Are Bought Through Price Comparison Websites And Not Via Their Own Sites This Is Money Research Shows

2020-07-09T20:25:27Z

Bebe8103899: Created page with "Four of the Big Six are offering customers cheaper tariffs thanks to a fall in wholesale costs - but only when they are bought through price comparison websites and not via th..."

Four of the Big Six are offering customers cheaper tariffs thanks to a fall in wholesale costs - but only when they are bought through price comparison websites and not via their own sites, This is Money research shows. When checking on an energy firm website directly, most of the cheapest available prices for tariffs are much higher than the lowest one with the same supplier on a comparison website, showing it can pay to shop around. For example, the cheapest tariff on SSE when searching Compare the Market was the exclusive one-year fixed v8 tariff which comes in at a typical cost of £891 per year. However, when comparing that to quotes given by the SSE website, the cheapest possible offer comes up at £1,163.89 a year - £272.81 more expensive. Big Six suppliers are offering better deals on price comparison sites opposed to their own site This means customers who are currently with the Big Six could potentially save hundreds of pounds a year by still staying with the same supplier - but potentially doing it through a comparison website. When looking at quotes for both gas and electricity from a Big Six supplier for a home on a fixed, dual fuel tariff that uses the national average of 12,000 kWh for gas and 3,100 kWh for electricity, the results were revealing. RELATED ARTICLES [# Previous] [# 1] [# Next] [/money/bills/article-7731923/My-boiler-broken-need-know-getting-new-one.html Help! My boiler has broken, what can I do? Everything you...] [/money/bills/article-7750407/Energy-suppliers-charging-93-year-paying-cash-cheque.html Energy suppliers charge up to £93 a year more for those...] [/money/bills/article-7730947/Former-Extra-Energy-customers-waiting-accounts-credited-YEAR-firm-went-bust.html 'Where is my £1,800 refund?' Former Extra Energy customers...] [/money/bills/article-7718035/A-flawed-gimmick-just-dont-need-verdict-smart-meters.html A flawed gimmick we just don't need - YOUR verdict on smart...] Share this article Share HOW THIS IS MONEY CAN HELP [/energy Can you save hundreds by switching energy providers? Compare prices in your postcode] Similarly, when looking at the cheapest deal from EDF on a comparison website, it offered simply online one-year fix Dec20v4 for £897 per year. Meanwhile, the cheapest on their website was for the easy-online 18 month fix Jun21 tariff costing £1,077.98 annually. On the British Gas website, the cheapest deal available is £1,122.13 per year on its electric drivers energy plan Sep 2021 whilst the cheapest tariff on uSwitch is £898.35 annually on its energy and [https://vacationtravel.pageride.com/which-are-the-cheapest-cities-in-india-for-students/? vacationtravel.pageride.com] boiler cover Jan 2021 deal. For Eon, the cheapest deal on Compare the Market is £902 on its fix online exclusive v20 tariff but the cheapest offered on their website is the fix online v33 tariff at £1,017.19. Even though the deals offered on price comparison sites are certainly competitive, they are still not the cheapest available. Some suppliers have exclusive deals on price comparison websites to gain more customers Utility Point currently offer the cheapest overall tariff on the market for their just up 19 Wk48 direct V2 deal which costs on average £835 a year - around £60 cheaper the lowest price Big Six deal. Scottish Power and Npower were the only two of the Big Six that offered slightly cheaper deals on their own website than on price comparison sites. However, this could change if they then promote an exclusive deal on one of the comparison websites. This is Money has contacted SSE, British Gas, EDF and Eon for comment. An SSE spokesperson said: 'Like other suppliers we offer a variety of tariffs through different channels, to cater for different customers. Our exclusive one-year fixed v8 tariff was launched as a Black Friday offer, valid for one week only.' Tariff decreases are largely down to a fall in wholesale costs. According to Ofgem figures, wholesale gas prices are at their cheapest level since 2009, and electricity at its lowest since 2016. This is Money researched the deals using a London-based postcode on 5 December 2019 on comparison websites Compare the Market and uSwitch and also looking at suppliers' own websites. CHEAPEST ENERGY DEALS ON MARKET Rank Tariff Supplier Tariff Name Total cost 1 Utility Point Just Up 19 Wk48 Direct V2 £835 2 Outfox the Market FIX'D 19 5.0 £837 3 Outfox the Market FIX'D 19 4.0 £866 4 Nabuh Energy Zara Tariff (12 Month Fixed) £869 5 Yorkshire Energy Green Stag - Fixed until 30th September 2021 £870 6 Avro Energy Simple and SuperSave £873 7 Utility Point Just Up Wk48 £882 8 SSE Exclusive 1 Year Fixed v8 £884 9 Avro Energy Simple and mSuperFixed £886 10 EDF Energy Simply Online Mar21v7 £886 Source: Switchd (correct as of 2 December 2019) Energy firms fight back against auto-switch services? One reason for suppliers not offering cheaper deals on their own websites could be to potentially stop customers using auto-switching services, such as Flipper and Switchd. These services automatically move customers onto a cheaper energy deal when it becomes available. There is a suggestion by one industry insider that some of the larger energy suppliers may want to avoid supplying tariffs to these auto-switching services. This is because they rarely offer the cheapest tariffs and auto-switching sites are more likely to move customers from the Big Six to other suppliers. Households who use these services are unlikely to use comparison websites in the future - and this could mean a chunk of custom that doesn't go back to the big players. Another reason could be that comparison websites will likely have agreed on an 'exclusive rate' for certain tariffs in order to improve suppliers' positioning in results. Therefore, if someone comes directly to their site, it is less likely that the customer can see the price of every other tariff and so they have less of a need to look comparatively good. If suppliers were to post these deals on their own site, they could be at risk of existing customers getting annoyed that they are offering a better rate to new ones. Hence, they decide to only offer it on comparison sites. One problem with only putting the cheapest deals on comparison websites is that it could exclude more vulnerable members of society, including the elderly, who may not have access to the internet. Of these people, they will only likely to be contact their supplier over the phone and may not be offered the cheapest possible deal. Another issue that [/money/bills/article-6799347/Best-energy-tariffs-dont-require-smart-meter-revealed.html This is Money has previously reported on], is that most of the cheapest deals offered by the Big Six are only available on the condition that customers agree to have a smart meter installed. Many customers have said this feels like blackmail, leaving them paying hundreds of pounds more a year if they don't oblige. It is not surprising that some suppliers are enforcing the installation of meters as they have many government targets to hit and can be fined heavily if they don't meet them. <div class="art-ins mol-factbox money" data-version="2" id="mol-8b2a2090-1822-11ea-9fc6-ed9f899ef15a" website Six customers can find cheapest tariffs on price comparison sites

Why You Shouldn t Panic About The Swine Flu Strain With pandemic Potential

2020-07-05T18:11:35Z

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id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body"> A new strain of influenza has sent social media into a bit of an apocalyptic panic. Getty/China Photos The [ coronavirus pandemic] isn't even close to being over, and, if you read the latest headlines, there's a potential new pandemic right around the corner. This one's caused by influenza -- the virus that causes the flu -- and the culprit was discovered circulating in pigs in China. [ Even the Fonz himself was concerned]. But the headlines are overdoing it a little, and the panic is unnecessary. Let's set the record straight. [ Various] [ reports] about a study [ published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences] have sent social media into a bit of a panic with apocalyptic endgame scenarios, worrying many that we're staring down a double pandemic that will end it all and have us running to our bunkers in the hills. Some posts suggests people already believe this new virus is emerging and spreading through China. CNET Science From the lab to your inbox. Get the latest science stories from CNET every week. The study examined pig populations in China from 2011 to 2018, taking thousands of swabs from slaughtered farmed pigs and testing them for influenza viruses. The research team discovered a strain that contains genetic material similar to H1N1 influenza, the virus that caused a pandemic in 2009, has become more dominant in Chinese pig populations since 2016. Researchers showed the strain, dubbed G4, was the major influenza strain in the pig population they tested and that it has the ability to infect human epithelial cells in the airway. It has also infected some farm workers, with around 10% of those exposed to the animals showing antibodies to the strain. However, [https://vacationtravel.pageride.com/which-are-the-cheapest-cities-in-india-for-students/? vacationtravel.pageride.com] the virus has been circulating in swine since 2016 and when jumping to humans it is yet to cause significant illness. It's unclear whether the strain can do that. There's also no evidence it has spread from human to human. For a pandemic to kick off, the virus needs to achieve both these things by picking up new genetic information. Could that happen? Yes. Should you panic? Well, no. "it's something that still is in the stage of examination," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during a senate hearing on Tuesday. "It's not a so-called immediate threat, where you're seeing infections, but it's something we need to keep our eye on." And although current flu vaccines don't protect against this strain, the next batch could be designed to provide protection if this virus did reach pandemic proportions. But that remains a big if. "No immediate threat to public health." Carl Bergstrom, biologist, University of Washington Surveillance of influenza strains is a valuable tool for epidemiologists and public health authorities, allowing them to screen vulnerable populations and better understand if the virus is evolving to become more virulent. The researchers suggest G4 should be closely monitored in pigs and in human populations now. It's well worth reading Twitter threads [ composed by Angela Rasmussen], a virologist at Columbia University, and [ a similar thread by Carl Bergstrom], a biologist at the University of Washington, Seattle. Both break down where some of the misunderstandings come from by detailing the experiments and how they relate to the headlines. "The bottom line is that our understanding of what is a potential pandemic influenza strain is limited," Rasmussen writes. "Sure, this virus meets a lot of the basic criteria, but it's not for sure going to cause a hypothetical 2020 flu pandemic, or even be a dominant strain in humans." "I think the key context is that there are ALWAYS strains out there with pandemic potential," Bergstrom added, via email. "Identifying one is just that—it's identifying something we need to watch. It doesn't much change my estimate of the risk of seeing a pandemic in say the next four or five years." Reading into 'pandemic potential' It's important to pull back the curtain a little here, too. The journal this work was published in, PNAS, sends out a weekly list of embargoed journal articles it will publish in the following seven days to media. In this week's email, there was reference to a study headlined with "Swine influenza virus with pandemic potential." It's a fairly eye-catching headline and not exactly incorrect, but it's written to attract media to get interested in telling the story of the research. And that's where some of the panic begins. The journal article itself references the idea pigs are particularly good "mixing vessels" for flu viruses because they enable different influenza strains to swap genetic information with each other. These swaps could result in viruses that are more likely to infect humans and cause disease. It is the only reference to "pandemic potential" made in the paper. The journal article exists behind a paywall, so the full seven-page article isn't freely available to the public. A similar situation occurred in May with a paywalled article by New Scientist being dredged up to claim NASA had found a parallel universe where time runs backward. Spoiler: [/news/no-nasa-didnt-find-a-parallel-universe-where-time-runs-backward/ It (sadly) hadn't], and we're stuck with this universe. During the coronavirus pandemic, scientists, researchers, the media and the public have had to grapple with an "[ infodemic]," as the World Health Organization calls it. An infodemic is an overabundance of information, both accurate and not so accurate, that makes it extremely difficult to find trustworthy sources. Would we have seen the "pandemic potential" flu pick up so much steam if we weren't already in a pandemic that's turned everything on it's head? My guess would be no. It will be important to keep track of this virus -- and other influenza viruses -- so we can better prepare for potential pandemics. But we will also need to remain vigilant when discussing these studies. Now playing: Watch this: How to follow the pandemic with online tools 1:47 Added June 30: Links to the Fonz tweet, statement by Fauci. Added July 1: Correspondence with Carl Begrstrom. [#comments Comments] [/topics/sci-tech/ Notification on Notification off Sci-Tech]

If You Haven t Tracked Your Stimulus Check Status Here s How To Do It Online

2020-07-05T17:24:30Z

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id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body"> An online tool can help tell you when your stimulus money is coming. James Martin/CNET For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the [ WHO website]. You've been checking your bank account and mailbox since the middle of April, looking for your [/news/stimulus-check-update-status-eligibility-amount-deadline-everything-to-know/ stimulus check] from the IRS. That's a long time to wait if you're one of the millions of people who qualify for a payment, but haven't received it yet. To help track down the status of your money, now's a good time to turn to the IRS' online [ Get My Payment] portal for clues. If you're convinced your stimulus check has gone missing, you can [/news/what-if-your-stimulus-check-never-comes-this-is-what-you-need-to-do/ contact the IRS to report your no-show payment], but we strongly encourage you to try this method first before you call the iRS. You could also look into another [/news/track-your-stimulus-check-right-to-your-mailbox-with-this-free-usps-tool/ useful tool that can track your check to your mailbox]. The Get My Payment tool can tell you: If the IRS is processing your checkOr has already scheduled your paymentHow your stimulus payment will arrive (as a paper check, [/news/irs-stimulus-check-what-to-know-about-your-coronavirus-payment-status-deadline/ prepaid debit card] or through [/news/its-too-late-to-direct-deposit-your-stimulus-check-heres-what-happens-now/ direct deposit to your bank account])Alert you to [/news/stimulus-check-missing-or-lost-how-to-report-it-to-the-irs/ any problems that may be holding up your payment] Read on for what to expect and the type of information you should have on hand before you start using the portal, including what happens if you get an error message. For more information about stimulus checks, these are the latest details about a [/news/second-stimulus-check-update-is-a-dramatic-second-round-coming-heres-todays-status/ second round of stimulus checks], [/news/stimulus-check-2-how-much-money-might-a-second-payment-bring/ how much money you might get] and [/news/stimulus-check-round-2-who-could-qualify-for-an-extra-payment-heres-what-we-know/ who may and may not qualify for a payment]. We update this story often. CNET Coronavirus Update Keep track of the coronavirus pandemic. What to know before you use the Get My Payment tool You'll need to input your Social Security number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) along with your date of birth, street address and postal code.The IRS is sending payments on a schedule. Think of it as batches of payments that get sent at once, rather than individually. The Get My Payment tool can ballpark your scheduled date.The IRS updates its status tracking information once a day. The tool may require you to enter your details in a specific way. You should receive a letter about 15 days after the IRS issues your payment, with information on the amount you received and how you received it. After using the IRS tracker, you could also sign up for a free service from the post office that tells you [/news/no-stimulus-check-in-sight-how-to-track-it-in-the-mail-with-a-phone-or-computer/ exactly when your stimulus check will arrive in the mail]. If you're waiting for your stimulus check to arrive, use the IRS tool as a starting point. Angela Lang/CNET How to track the status and arrival of your IRS stimulus check If you're eligible for a check, the IRS lets you track your payment schedule through its Get My Payment web portal. Some people have reported having trouble using the portal, and the IRS said it has significantly improved the Get My Payment app to help you set up and track the date of your stimulus payment. 1. Head to the IRS' [ Get My Payment page] and tap the blue Get My Payment button to check the status of your economic impact payment. 2. On the next page about authorized use, tap OK. 3. Now on the Get My Payment page, enter your SSN or ITIN, your date of birth, your street address and your ZIP or postal code. Tap Continue. On the next page, the portal will show your payment status, whether it's been scheduled or if the service can't yet determine your status. Read more: [/news/do-you-still-need-a-face-mask-buy-one-at-any-of-these-online-stores/ Where to buy face masks online if you don't want to make your own] Coronavirus updates [/health/track-covid-19-risk-in-your-county-with-harvards-assessment-map/ Track COVID-19 risk in your county with Harvard's new map] [/health/the-cdc-expands-its-list-of-coronavirus-symptoms/ CDC expands its list of coronavirus symptoms] [/health/coronavirus-health-myths-fact-checked/ 11 coronavirus myths, from misguided to outright dangerous] [ ] Now playing: Watch this: Stimulus Checks Helpline 2:58 Is my status information accurate? What if I get an error message? You may see confusing messages when using the status tool -- so much so that [ the IRS explains common status messages in an FAQ]. You may get a message if it's impossible to determine your eligibility, for example, or your payment status is not available. Here are some initial [/news/stimulus-check-tracking-tool-still-not-working-for-you-here-are-11-possible-reasons-why/ reasons why Get My Payment may not be able to track your payment] status, though the IRS has since said it's improved its tool. Can I find out if my check is in the mail? The IRS deadline to [/news/its-too-late-to-direct-deposit-your-stimulus-check-heres-what-happens-now/ set up direct deposit with the government] passed on May 13. If you didn't set up your account, you'll most likely get your check in the mail. While most people will receive a paper check, the Treasury Department said 4 million people will get an Economic Impact Payment, or [ EIP, prepaid debit card] instead (and as of the first week of June, it said these payments have been made). We've asked the US Treasury to clarify who gets a check and who gets a debit card. Did you try the US Postal Service mail-tracking app? Here's another way to track your stimulus check in the mail. If you're waiting for your [/news/stimulus-check-amount-deadline-qualifications-payment-timeline-everything-to-know/ stimulus payment]to arrive in the mail -- either as a paper check or a prepaid debit card -- the US Postal Service has a free app that can notify you when it's about to deliver your letter from the IRS. Called [ Informed Delivery], [https://vacationtravel.pageride.com/which-are-the-cheapest-cities-in-india-for-students/? https://vacationtravel.pageride.com/which-are-the-cheapest-cities-in-india-for-students/?] the mail-tracking service automatically scans your letters and can alert you when they'll be delivered. Here's more on [/news/track-your-stimulus-check-right-to-your-mailbox-with-this-free-usps-tool/ how to set up and use the letter-tracking service from the USPS] to track your payment. For more information, here's [/news/coronavirus-stimulus-check-6-ways-to-use-your-1200-check/ how best to use your stimulus check]. And here's everything you need to know about the [/news/coronavirus-unemployment-payments-applying-and-more/ coronavirus and unemployment]. You don't need to sign up to qualify for stimulus money To receive the stimulus payment, you may need to [/news/coronavirus-and-tax-day-deadline-extended-but-you-can-file-now-for-a-refund/ file a tax return for 2018 or 2019] if you are normally required to. You can still do that now. [/news/coronavirus-and-tax-day-deadline-extended-but-you-can-file-now-for-a-refund/ Here's how]. [ Senior citizens, Social Security recipients, railroad retirees] and other beneficiaries who typically aren't required to file tax returns will not need to file one to receive a payment. Again, the agency will mail a letter to a taxpayer's last known address within 15 days after sending the payment. The letter will contain information on when and how the payment was made and how to report to the IRS if you didn't receive your check. [#comments Comments] [/cnet-apps-today/ CNET Apps Today] [/personal-finance/budgeting/ Budgeting] [/coronavirus/ Coronavirus] [ Notification on Notification off How to]

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2020-07-05T17:24:26Z

Bebe8103899: Created page with "id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body"> Protesters in Detroit have been calling for [https://v..."

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