Watchers…

Great article in the Times (Jill Sherman) focusing on EnergyWatch and PostWatch. The article states:

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report said that huge numbers of complaints
relating to wrong energy bills and lost mail were continuing to pour in five years after the groups were set up. Energywatch and Postwatch were established by the Government in 2000 to strengthen the voice of the consumer by investigating complaints and securing compensation for users.

But Edward Leigh, the committee chairman, said that there was still a lot of public dissatisfaction with the groups � both of which occupy expensive London headquarters � and that they both appeared largely ineffective.

Ouch. We’re also told these consumer-oriented watchdogs each spend about �10-12 million per year and have between them about 300 employees and some very nice offices.

It makes the Ofcom Consumer Panel and its annual spend of �700,000 look cheap, huh? Admittedly, Energywatch and Postwatch do not have precisely the same function as the Consumer Panel and also handle complaints from consumers… they have a much larger workload. The Ofcom Consumer Panel is mostly advisory in nature.

And of course, there is your humble servant, OfcomWatch. We cost the U.K. taxpayer and/or consumer nothing! We mostly focus on the regulator… but give us a few million pounds a year and … wow … we could handle loads of consumer complaints!