EU will cut power consumption of kettles, toasters and mobile phone chargers after the EU referendum

After downgrading our vacuum cleaners in 2013, the EU are planning to do the same to our toasters and kettles.

Concerns about regulating the power of toasters, kettles, jet washes, hairdryers and even internet routers and mobile phone chargers being seen as unnecessary interference means that new EU regulations on power usage by domestic appliances won't be implemented until after the referendum. If you're looking for a kettle that boils in less than 5 minutes then you're out of luck if we don't vote to leave next month.

In the US it is common for people to boil a kettle on their gas hob rather than use an electric kettle because it takes 5 minutes or more to boil a kettle. This is because the American 110v/15amp electricity supply will only allow you to draw 1800w for your appliance.

This isn't a case where innovation will step in to improve performance, the laws of physics won't change because the EU passes a law banning high power kettles. Putting extra elements in the kettle will make it heat the water quicker but they will use more power and the further from the bottom the element is the more energy is wasted. They could change the shape of the element to increase surface area but the larger the surface area, the more power is needed to replace the heat that's transferred to the water. Unless someone comes up with a cheap way of building a high pressure ceramic kettle inside a vacuum chamber that isn't prone to exploding it will be quicker in future to boil a kettle over a camping stove than it will be to use an electric one.

It looks like you can also kiss goodbye to your fast charging mobile phone chargers. A standard mobile phone charger draws 5 watts but a fast charger will draw up to 18w (9 volts and 2 amps). That's about the same as a 60w equivalent energy saving light bulb.

The high power kettle of the future in the EUSSR

Powerless UK Competition & Markets Authority begs EU to block Three-O2 merger

The UK Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has written an open letter to the EU Commission begging them to block the merger of mobile phone operators Three and O2.

The two companies agreed to a merger last year which would create the UK's largest mobile phone operator. In anticipation of opposition from the CMA, Three said that it would open up the combined network to virtual mobile network providers like Virgin and Sky to encourage competition but the CMA isn't happy at the prospect of having only three mobile networks and desperately wants to block it but that authority has recently been quietly transferred to the EU.

Last year, when the CMA was still allowed to do its job, they approved the merger of BT and EE. This created a combined operator that still has a virtual monopoly on fixed line phone and broadband, is the dominant mobile phone operator with both EE and BT Mobile between them owning around 40% of the 4G spectrum (thanks in no small part to OFCOM letting EE use part of its 2G spectrum to get 4G services out ahead of its competitors) and is one of the dominant streaming TV operators with BT TV, BT Sport and EE TV. Why they feel inclined to oppose the Three-O2 merger but not the BT-EE merger is a mystery but how pathetic is it that the UK regulator has to ask the EU to block a merger that they don't think should go ahead?

UKIP hopes to scupper EU mobile roaming regulations that will increase bills

The EU's flagship federalist policy of abolishing mobile phone roaming charges looks likely to be scuppered by MEPs tomorrow.

UKIP MEP, Roger Helmer, has tabled an amendment to the proposed regulation on the grounds that it gives the EU Commission more power and will drive up bills for the majority of customers who will be expected to subsidise the minority who travel regularly throughout the EU.

The EU are desperate to abolish mobile roaming charges because it's one of the things that emphasises the national borders within the EU.

There is no need for EU regulations forcing mobile phone operators to abolish roaming charges within the EU, it is something that the market will eventually drive. In recent years mobile phone companies have introduced add-ons that significantly reduce the cost of using your phone abroad in response to increased overseas travel and one of the UK's operators even allows you to use your mobile phone in 18 countries as if you were in the UK. Companies specialising in cheap calls to and from certain countries serve ex-pat communities by buying call time wholesale and of course VOIP services like Skype, Hangouts and Facetime allow you to make calls for free wherever you can pick up wi-fi.

None of this has been as a result of EU regulations and in fact forcing all operators to negotiate roaming deals with operators in every EU country could see some fail. Estonia has just 2.5m subscribers divided between three mobile operators. Estonians travel a lot but Estonia isn't exactly top of the tourist destination list. They are likely to receive far less in revenue from operators in other EU countries than they will pay out to foreign networks for airtime and data used by Estonian subscribers. The likes of Orange and Vodafone who have a presence in most countries will dominate and prices will rise as a result.

Whilst abolishing roaming charges in the EU will benefit those looking to abolish national borders and pushing a federalist agenda, it will disadvantage the majority of customers who will never take advantage of the abolition of roaming charges but will still pay for it through their bills.

EU has mobile roaming in its sight again

The EU have got mobile phone operators in their sights again, aiming to abolish all roaming charges across the EU by 2016.

Research has shown that almost half of people travelling abroad don't use the internet on their mobile phones when travelling in the EU and a quarter don't use their phones at all.

Mobile phone roaming is an obvious reminder that the EU isn't one country and the EU don't like any reminders that a United States of Europe doesn't exist (the EU Commission's vice president, Viviane Reding, has called for it again this week).

Mobile phone operators are pumping billions into upgrading infrastructure to take advantage of 4G technology and they need to recoup that cost through their customers. It costs money to provide mobile services to customers from another network and operators need to be able to charge for that service so they don't have to pass that cost on to their own customers.

All the mobile phone operators have add-ons that will allow you to use your phone in the EU and elsewhere at a reduced cost or as part of your inclusive package for a daily or monthly fee. Three allow you to use your inclusive minutes, text and data (subject to conditions) in most of the countries where they own a mobile phone network. There is also an EU cap on roaming call, text and data charges anywhere in the EU.

Consumers have options and protections, forcing mobile phone operators to create the illusion of a United States of Europe with the unilateral abolition of roaming charges is both unnecessary and counter-productive. Allow them (encourage them, even) to make their own bilateral agreements on roaming and protect the interests of their own customers.

EU to abolish mobile phone roaming charges

The wise and benevolent EU has decided that it's unacceptable that mobile phone companies charge extra for roaming between EU countries.  After all, you don't pay roaming charges between states in the USA do you so who should you pay in the United States of Europe?

Mobile phone companies make a lot of money from roaming charges and it's that money that helps them give away £400 phones for free when you take out a contract.  Nobody likes paying extra charges but it's a fair compromise - the small minority that use their phones abroad on a regular basis pay the extra cost of using it rather than the majority of mobile phone users subsidising their usage.

In Europe it's as common for people to go to a neighbouring EU country as it is for English people to go to Wales or Scotland but they are still in the minority.  It's not as common in the UK and Ireland though, thanks in part to the EU's environmental laws that make it prohibitively expensive to travel by air but mostly because we're an island and it's not convenient.

The mobile phone companies won't absorb the extra costs, they will pass them on to all their customers.  We will all pay higher bills to subsidise the mobile phone usage of a minority of customers and in the UK and Ireland we will benefit the least.  The EU is not a country, the countries in it are not states in a country like the USA despite the EU's insistence on referring to them as "states" to try and get people to think about them in the same way.  It is not unreasonable to expect to pay a premium for using your mobile phone in a different country.

EU calls for harmonisation of mobile broadband frequencies

The European Empire is targeting mobile phone companies again, this time proposing the harmonisation of mobile broadband frequencies to allow easier roaming and a wider reception from mobile phone masts.

Now, I don't have a problem with the suggested harmonisation per se and I would welcome - as I'm sure most people would - improved reception for mobile phones. But this will cost mobile phone companies millions, perhaps billions of pounds and it is the customer that will pay in the long run. And I have yet to figure out what harmonisation of mobile broadband frequencies has to do with a common market.

We've already had the one size fits all enforced price cuts on roaming charges which benefit only a tiny minority of English people as we spend much less time in EU countries than people on the continent do and the cost of that has been passed on to customers in the form of longer contracts and higher costs for extras.

Mobile phone companies will no doubt be all for a harmonised mobile phone system across the continent because it will be cheaper to maintain and administer and ultimately increase the opportunity to make money out of more people but they will want to do it on their own terms and more importantly, as a company with shareholders, they'll want to make money out of it. EU interference will force mobile phone companies to adopt a solution they might not want at a time the EU dictates and on terms the EU decides.