Thumbs Up

The boy's got drive: A three-year-old English boy bought a pink convertible car for £9,000 (€13,292) on eBay last week but before he had time to drive it (or at least play in it), his mean mammy cancelled the sale. Jack Neal apparently logged on to his mother's PC and used the "buy it now" option on eBay to complete the purchase. "Jack's a whiz on the PC and just pressed all the right buttons," Rachel Neal said. The seller of the second-hand car, a dealer from Worcestershire, England, agreed not to force the sale through.

High price of energy

With oil prices heading south, the National Consumer Agency (NCA) has rowed in on the side of the much put-upon consumer and called on the energy regulator (CER) to rescind its decision allowing Bord Gáis to impose a 34 per cent price increase and to withdraw the consultation paper on ESB price increases of 20 per cent.

The NCA has also requested that both Bord Gáis and the ESB make new proposals to the CER in the light of developments in international energy markets.

Ann Fitzgerald, executive chair of the NCA pointed out that it was now widely accepted that oil prices peaked in July and have subsequently dropped by approximately 20 per cent. "Bearing this context in mind the proposed increases should be shelved without delay. The impact of unnecessarily high increases on both consumers and businesses alike should not be underestimated."

Put the wind up

If the consumer body fails to convince the energy regulator to reverse the increases, we might have to take matters into our own hands. Do It Yourself took on a whole new meaning last week with the announcement that DIY giant B&Q is to sell a new range of wind turbines to help householders generate their own energy. The turbines, which went on sale last week in Ireland with a price tag of €2,299 including installation, apparently fit on to domestic roofs and transmit electricity directly into household wiring. B&Q also plans to sell packs of solar panels and increase its range of energy-efficient products from later this year.