Are Small Energy Companies Struggling?
I’ve just read this article on Blue and Green Tomorrow entitle ‘Unprecedented’ growth forces small energy suppliers to battle customer service issues. The first paragraph summarises the article well.
While dissatisfied energy customers are turning their back on the ‘big six’ suppliers, smaller firms are increasing their number of customers, but their exponential growth is also leading to higher complaints.
I have no current customer services issues with Ovo, who I switched to in December. Although earlier, I did have some issues with their login system.
I would expect that just like any new industry, these small energy companies will have customer service issues in their infancy, as more customers join before the staff are recruited and trained to deal with any problems.
It’s Only A Toilet For A Train
Some of the designs that impress me are ones where something is properly redesigned for the twenty-first or even the twenty-second century, often re-using the current outdated infrastructure.
That is why I like some of the architecture in the UK like the British Museum, the Tate Modern and Kings Cross Station have been extended in a modern style.
The UK Rail Industry has several stations on my list of good improvements, but it is also good at updating rolling stock. The stopgap High Speed Trains are still thundering to the extremes of the UK and who would predict, when the last one is retired from active service? If I live to a hundred, I suspect that some of these trains will outlive me! After all they would become a marketing man’s dream on a long tourist route like down to Cornwall, up to the North of Scotland or perhaps across Australia or Argentina, offering unprecedented comfort in a vintage train. We’ve also got the example of the HST’s humble cousins, the Class 455, which scrubbed up so well, some passengers thought they were new trains.
The UK Rail Industry has an expensive road block coming up in 2020, with the Persons of Reduced Mobility (PRM) legislation coming into force. Many older trains like the Class 156 would have to be scrapped and replaced if they couldn’t be updated to meet the new regulations.
But never underestimate the power of good design and engineering and one of the biggest problems of the refurbishment of the Class 156 described here, namely a fully-accessible toilet has been solved.
The new toilet has been designed and built by PCC.eu and they call it a Comfort Zone. I first saw it described in this month’s Modern Railways.
As I travel occasionally on some of the Greater Anglia trains, that have now been updated, I shall be interested to see how it works in practice.
As the floorspace needed is smaller than the traditional PRM toilet and providing decent on-train facilities is not just a UK problem, it looks to me that this is a classic where-there’s-muck-there’s-money design.
It also shows that one of the best ways to make money is to design or invent something.
Train Information To Be Free To Developers
The Rail Industry is going to open up its database, so that all train running and timetabling information will be available free to software developers. It is reported here on the Modern Railways web site.
This may seem quite small and technical, but it is an interesting change of philosophy by a public body.
I’ve always believed in giving access to data in a comprehensive manner, when that data is anonymous and disclosure is in the public interest.
For instance, a programme could be written, that collates and analyses some specific data on the rail network, that might be required by a local politician, who is getting complaints about the rail service.
But that is only a simple example and knowing the skill of software developers, free access to the data, will spawn some very useful applications.
The article doesn’t say if passenger journey statistics will be available, but this might be very useful to develop a system, which helped show a company, which would be the best location for their next coffee shop or office development. Or perhaps it could suggest to a coach company, which might be the best route for a new service.
A lot of these applications are speculative, but because the data is available and free, companies with a need will use it to their advantage to grow, increase profits and create jobs.
Let’s hope that this is a first small step to opening up public data,so that companies and organisations can improve their products and services, and consumers can benefit.
The Anonymous Widower 