The energy regulator Ofgem has ruled that fuel companies that offer customers different tarfiffs depending on whether they pay by direct debit or pre-payment meter are acting unfairly.

It also said that dual fuel tariffs meant that 4.3 million customers with no gas supply could not get the best deals on electricity.

The Government has today announced a £910 million package designed to redress the rising cost of energy bills. The long-term scheme will be funded by energy companies that have enjoyed years of fatter and fatter profits but prime minister Gordon Brown stressed: "I do not expect the £910m that we raise to be passed on to the consumer by the energy companies. I think that's a very important point to make."

The package of measures will include free cavity wall and loft insulation for pensioners and poor households, a 50% reduction on the cost of insulation for all other households and a freeze on this year's bills for half a million poor consumers.

A new deal between the government and energy firms that will reduce household bills is near to being finalised today after pressure was applied to the prime minister from union leaders to impose windfall taxes on energy firms'  fat profits.

However, leaders fear that the focus of the deal will remain confined to making homes more long-term energy-efficient instead of demanding a straight forward cut in energy companies' profits.

If you fill in a Self Assessment tax return, then don't forget next month's new 31 October deadline for paper returns.

In previous years, both paper and online Self Assessment returns had to be filed by 31 January. But from this year, paper returns must be with HMRC by 31 October. The deadline for filing online returns remains 31 January.

Spending power is declining at an unprecedented rate, as the nation's disposable income falls in the wake of the credit crunch and the Northern Rock crisis. For the first time since 1997, British households actually have 15% less money left in their pockets after tax, National Insurance and essential bills have been accounted for. Despite average pay packets seeing a slight increase this year, a report by the utilities comparison site uSwitch forecasts that families are set to have £2,500 (15%) less household disposable income than in 2007. This is a rise of just 21% since 1997 against a gross household income rise of 54%.

Disposable income now represents just 28% of gross household income, compared to 35% in 2007. The rapid decline is attributed to essential living costs soaring at their fastest rate since records began, while rises in tax and social contributions have eaten into net income, which, as a proportion of gross income, has fallen 0.5% in the last year alone.

Inflation expectations for the year ahead continued to rise in August, despite the recent falls in oil prices and mortgage rates, according to the latest Consumer Barometer from Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets.

The monthly survey asked 2,000 consumers to predict what the official rate of inflation would be in a year's time. On average, respondents said the official rate would be 5%, up from 4.8% in July.  This figure has risen in each of the previous 10 months.

More than 10 million households cannot afford to pay their inflated energy bills, according to research by the price comparison and switching site uSwitch.com.

Annual energy bills have soared from an average of £912 in January, to £1,127 today, and they could reach £1,467 by the end of the year if warnings are fulfilled. That would mean an unheard-of 61% increase in household energy bills in 2008.

Consumers who pay for their gas and electricity supplies in cash, by cheque or pre-payment meters - 53% of all electricity customers and 49% of gas customers - could have grounds for suing the companies for over-charging them. They are paying hundreds of millions of pounds a year more than they should, according to the parliamentary Business and Enterprise Committee.

“Standard credit" customers, who pay by cash or cheque, were being charged on average 11% more (£89 a year) than those paying by direct debit. Customers using pre-payment meters were paying £144 more a year, the committee found.

Utility bills are set rise sharply for more than five million households, with the announcement by EDF Energy that it is increasing domestic gas and electricity prices by 22% and 17% respectively from today.

Record wholesale energy costs are to blame, the company says, arguing that it can no longer afford to keep on absorbing the increases. Energy prices have increased by 70% for coal, 63% for gas and 47% for electricity since it last increased its prices.

Today is the deadline for mobile phone companies to cut charges for sending text messages in member countries of the European Union. The EU has also told companies that they must reduce the cost of internet access while abroad.

But the industry body, the GSM Association, has opposed the move, claiming that companies would find it difficult to absorb the reduction in so-called call termination charges, with the result that customers might end up paying for more for a mobile phone.

UK motorists will be feeling the pinch when they fill up their tanks in petrol stations across the country's, with unleaded fuel costing an average of £1.16 a litre. But they should also spare a thought for their Norwegian cousins, who are forking out a staggering £1.40 a litre, according to new research from Post Office Travel Services.  It found that the UK was only the seventh most expensive European country in which to buy petrol, being overtaken in terms of cost by Germany, France, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium and Norway, in ascending order. Spain and Switzerland are the two cheapest places to fill up, said the survey, and Switzerland was the only one of 12 European destinations where unleaded fuel cost less than £1 a litre.

The government has responded to a campaign to help vulnerable people combat fuel poverty by introducing a range of  new measures. The move is designed to support effortsd by elderly and at-risk families to make their homes warmer and more energy efficient. But experts said people need more immediate help.

Tickets for concerts and other events should include the full price upfront, according to consumer champion Which?  Its research showed that booking fees and other charges can add up to 30% to the price of a ticket - and agents don't even have to refund booking charges if an event is cancelled.

Women in Britain's Sex and the City generation are pursing the "Carrie dream" and looking for "Mr Big" to look after them financially in future. According to research released today, almost one million women have set their sights on a knight on a white horse, banking on finding a rich man to take care of them.

Householders could see their fuel bills rise by a half this year as energy suppliers push price increases through. In a worst-case scenario the average consumer could see their fuel bills soar by an unprecedented 46% or £415, according to uSwitch.com, the price comparison and switching service.

Suppliers have already increased prices by 15% or £136 on average this year because of the high price of oil and forward wholesale prices, but  uSwitch says that a third round of price increases is now extremely likely, with expectations of a 10% or £105 increase by late summer and a further 15% or £173 increase early next year.

Gas and electricity prices are fuelling inflation, government figures show.

Latest data  from the Office for National Statistics today show that the consumer prices index (CPI) annual inflation – the Government’s target measure – was 2.5 per cent in February up from 2.2 per cent in January.

The largest upward pressure came from housing and household services as recent gas and electricity price rises took effect.

Part of the impact for this upward pressure came from a change in the way prices are recorded. Last year energy price changes were phased in gradually over a four month period but now any increases in the tariff rate are implemented in full at the time they are introduced by the energy company.

There was also a small upward effect on the inflation rate from alcohol and tobacco with cigarette and beer prices rising by more than a year ago.

Customers of telephone companies who pay their bills by cash or cheque are being penalised to the tune of £237 million a year, according to research from a comparison website. Home phone customers not paying by direct debit and receiving paper bills being hit hardest.