Prices up, dividends up, campaigns up

I am delighted to see work by the wonderful Jonathan Stearn at energywatch (whose annual report press release is here), develop an upcoming new campaign coalition that Consumer Focus will work with on fuel poverty. Meanwhile research by the Local Government Association shows that at a time of rising prices for consumers, dividend payments by companies to shareholders have risen from £1.378 billion in 2006 to £1.635 billion in 2007, a 19 per cent increase and equivalent to £75 per household.