Utilities

'Road tax' rates are to be shaken up for new cars from 2017, while a new 'Roads Fund' is to be established so money raised in England will be spent on maintaining and upgrading roads in the country.

Petrol prices have reached a six-month high, causing many motorists to reduce their car use, according to the AA.

Co-op Energy was a customer service darling last December, with 63% of its customers rating it great and just 7% rating it poor. But in a staggering turnaround, just six months later over half of its customers (56%) rate its service as poor and just 22% rate it great. 

Extra Energy customers complain they've waited up to nine months to receive their bill while others say their bills haven't arrived at all, which has forced the provider to rethink it's unusual twice-yearly statements in favour of quarterly bills.

Around 300,000 Anglian Water customers on its metered SoLow tariff will be moved to its standard tariff from the 1 April, which will see bills rocket.

Sky TV customers could be hit with price hikes of up to £54/year from June, after the provider revealed it's upping the price of certain packages including Sky Sports and its Family bundle.

Energy regulator Ofgem will be given powers to order suppliers to cut their prices by the end of the year and Labour will freeze prices until 2017 if it wins the general election in May, Ed Miliband is promising.