Tuesday newspaper round-up: Broadband, National Grid, energy companies

More than half of UK broadband customers have experienced problems with their connections, according to a report that says telecoms providers are adding “insult to injury” after forcing inflation-busting price rises on to their customers. Many of the UK’s mobile and telecoms companies have been accused of “greedflation” for pushing through mid-contract price increases of up to 17.3%. – Guardian

The former finance director of the collapsed outsourcing company Carillion has been banned from serving as a company director for 11 years over his role in the company dishing out dividends of more than £50m while misstating its financial position by more than £200m. The outsourcer’s implosion in 2018 was one of the most high-profile failures in British corporate history, costing 3,000 jobs and plunging 450 public sector projects, including hospitals, schools and prisons, into chaos. – Guardian

Off a backroad and behind a gate near Heathrow Airport stands one of the UK’s handful of hydrogen filling stations. The familiar canopy, pumps, no smoking signs and other paraphernalia are present, but there are none of the smells or stains of a petrol station as enough fuel to travel hundreds of miles is dispensed in under four minutes in the form of a clear, odourless gas. – Telegraph

National Grid is urging factory owners to cut their electricity use at peak times as part of efforts to bolster power supplies this winter. The Grid is in talks with the Energy Intensive Users Group (EIUG), which represents heavy industry, over ways for members to reduce their consumption amid concerns of another supply crunch as the war in Ukraine drags on. – Telegraph

Insurance companies have sounded a warning note before a key policy initiative to encourage British pension funds to invest more domestically and in higher-risk assets. Ahead of the announcement, which is expected from the chancellor next week, the Association of British Insurers said there must be no mandatory rules forcing pension funds to invest in any particular area, adding that any compulsion would raise “the real risk of asset bubbles”. – The Times

Energy companies supplying about a third of British households do not meet Ofgem’s financial resilience standards, according to the regulator’s latest analysis. Ofgem has written to energy companies warning them that they must use an expected return to profitability this year to bolster their balance sheets before they consider paying dividends to shareholders. – The Times