Dogs Trust hopes Paddy will find a country home this St Paw-trick’s Day

STAFF at Dogs Trust laid on a special St Paw-trick’s Day pint (of gravy and mash!) for Labrador Paddy this week ahead of Saturday’s celebrations. Paddy, who has been at the Merseyside rehoming centre since last summer looking for a home, hopes that Irish, and other dog-loving, eyes will be smiling on him this weekend.  Georgina Lowery, Dogs Trust Merseyside Rehoming Centre Manager, said:- "Paddy is such a sweet boy when he gets to know you but he can be wary of strangers and this means that he is being overlooked by visitors to the centre. He really needs a quiet rural home and Dogs Trust would consider homes anywhere in the country if the right owner can be found. We hope that he gets some attention this coming weekend, we’ll be decorating his kennel with shamrocks to make sure he stands out from the crowd!"

Dogs Trust is looking for an experienced adult only home for Paddy as he is so wary of people. New owners will have to be willing to make multiple visits to the centre to build a bond with him before taking Paddy home. He would prefer to be the only pet in the household and would need a quiet rural home.  If you would like to offer a home to any of the wonderful dogs cared for at Dogs Trust Merseyside, please call the Rehoming Centre directly on:- 0151 480 0660 or visit:- dogstrust.org.uk .  Dogs Trust is the UK’s largest dog welfare charity, caring for over 16,000 stray or abandoned dogs every year through its network of 17 Rehoming Centres across the UK.

Leaseholders are being penalised for energy company mistakes

LEASEHOLDERS are being hit with astronomical bills because of mistakes made by their energy suppliers, The Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA) has warned on 14 March 2012.  The warning follows concerns raised by several leaseholder-run Residents Management Companies (RMCs) that have been served with backdated bills for tens of thousands of pounds because energy companies have misread meters for the communal areas of their flats. One particular RMC for a block of just 28 apartments was hit with a bill of over £50,000 because their supplier consistently misread the electricity meter despite the managing agent raising concerns.  Such blunders can have a crippling effect on the leaseholders who must then foot the heavy bill through their service charge contributions.  The problem is exacerbated by the energy regulator Ofgem's classification of RMCs as commercial enterprises, despite them being run by volunteer leaseholders purely to manage the communal areas of their building and not for profit. This means energy suppliers can charge residential leaseholders commercial tariffs and treat them like business customers, back billing them for up to 6 years and demanding instant payment, even though the mistake is theirs. ARMA, which has members acting as managing agents for thousands of RMCs in England and Wales, is urging Ofgem to address the problem in its current review of the non-domestic energy market. ARMA wants energy companies to treat RMCs like domestic customers by limiting back-billing to a maximum of one year when a meter misreading is their fault. It is calling for a code of practice to protect micro-businesses, like RMCs, and encourage energy companies to implement sensible payment plans.  "Leaseholders should not be punished for the mistakes of energy suppliers. In these tough economic times it is simply not acceptable that residents can receive unexpected bills for thousands because their supplier has misread a meter. This is why we are calling for a code of practice to protect leaseholders from the crippling effects of such mistakes and avoid unnecessary debt." commented ARMA's chairman, Peter Dening of Pennycuick Collins in Birmingham.  Highlighting how serious back dated billing can be for leaseholders, Patrick Ward, operations director at ARMA members Premier Estates Limited in Macclesfield, commented that:- "An energy supplier to a block of flats we manage had been providing invoices based on the first 5 digits of the electricity meter, despite their own readings and ours regularly providing 6 digits. Even though we continually queried invoices, the supplier insisted that the last digit reading on the meter was not used and that the invoices were correct. After much pressure, the company finally agreed to investigate the issue and realised their mistake. Then they issued a one off invoice for nearly £55,000 to correct their previous miscalculations! We repeatedly argued that this was unreasonable and down to their incompetence. Eventually the energy company agreed to reduce the invoice by 50%; a much better outcome for our leasehold customers who should not have been put in this position in the first instance."