Money, in brief

Alabama's power regulator asked Alabama Power on Tuesday to stop billing customers for its adverts at once. [1]

Alabama Power spent more than $6 million on general adverts last year, roughly $4 for each customer. [1]

Customers can now be billed for half, 50%, of its adverts that are not about safety. [1]

Energy Alabama's director called the move a boon to customers, who have faced some of the highest US power bills. [1]

The US energy statistics agency forecast home power at about 18 cents a unit for 2026, Realtor.com reported in February. [2] That is 37% more than in 2020. [2]

In utility regulation, Alabama's rules split the firm's adverts into public safety notices and ones that promote its business. [1] Customers can be billed for half of the second kind. [1]

Alabama Power's customers cannot switch to a rival, so its adverts cannot win new ones. [1] The recent ones defended its prices to the public instead. [1]

A school's only canteen still puts up posters, aimed at the parents and staff who renew its contract.

The request is voluntary: the commission asked Alabama Power to consent. [1] The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. [1]

In January the commission grows from 3 members to 7, with a new energy secretary setting its agenda. [1]

Alabama's regulator asked Alabama Power to take its advert costs off customers' bills three years before a law forces it, but only the company's agreement can make that happen before 2029. [1]

Advert costs would come off their bills in 2027 and 2028, years before the law requires it. [1]

Half of the cost of adverts that are not about safety can still go on their bills. [1]

How much of Alabama Power's $6 million of advert spending reached customers' bills.

Its federal filing gives the total but not how much was passed on, or how much the new ban would cover. [1]

Whether Alabama Power will agree to drop the advert costs before 2029.

The commission can only ask for its consent, and the company did not respond to a request for comment. [1]

Who will set the agenda of Alabama's enlarged commission.

Governor-elect Tommy Tuberville has not named the new energy secretary, who will set the enlarged commission's agenda. [1]

Democrats will hold 3 of the 5 seats on Georgia's Public Service Commission from January. [3]

It is the first time in 30 years that the party has controlled it. [3]

The commission regulates Georgia Power, the state's biggest electricity seller. [3]

Commissioner Peter Hubbard, re-elected this week, plans hearings into why power bills are high and how to cut them. [3]

Last year Georgia Power announced a rate freeze before any hearing let advocates check its numbers. [3]

Chris Womack, boss of parent firm Southern Company, said on Thursday: "we think that's a strong platform to stand on." [3]

The commission has faced scrutiny over rising bills and the power that data centres, buildings full of computers, need. [3]

A rate case is the process in which a regulator resets a utility's prices. [3] Georgia Power's next one is due in 2028. [3]

A freeze announced first skips that check, which advocates say left them unable to confirm the company's promises. [3]

A pupil who announces their own mark before the test is marked asks to be believed, not checked.

Georgia Power's contract to supply a new OpenAI data centre was fully redacted, with only a summary published after approval. [3]

The new majority takes its seats in January. [3]

Why a power company with no rivals pays for TV adverts

A power firm is the only seller in its area

Its customers cannot switch, so adverts win it none

So its image adverts speak to voters and officials

Those people decide what its bills may charge

When bills pay for the adverts, customers pay to be persuaded

So regulators keep safety notices and move image adverts off bills

A company with no rivals still has people to win over: the voters and officials who set its prices.

Alabama's rule today: a safety notice is treated apart, and half the cost of adverts that sell the company goes on customers' bills until 2029.

Southern Company's boss pointed the new commissioners to Georgia Power's rate freezes, a promise made in public before any hearing checked it.

Some monopoly adverts are useful, like a gas-leak warning or an outage number, which is why regulators treat safety notices apart.

The customer watching the advert, the voter choosing a commissioner and the household paying the bill are often the same family.

In Georgia, Southern Company's boss is pointing the new Democratic regulators to rate freezes that Georgia Power announced before any hearing checked them. [3]

A rate freeze sounds like a price cut, so announcing one can stand in for the hearing that would check the company's numbers. [3]

Whether Georgia's rate freeze really shielded households from the cost of serving data centres.

The freeze came before any hearing, and the OpenAI supply contract was fully redacted. [3]

Pakistan will sell 90% of its home-made cooking gas, called LPG, through open auctions held in front of the media. [4]

LPG is gas sold in cylinders, used for cooking and heating by homes off the piped gas network. [4]

The other 10% goes to state-owned sellers, to supply remote areas. [4]

Each company may buy at most 20 tonnes a day at the auctions. [4]

Supplies fell after crossings on the Iran border closed. [4] Cylinders now sell at twice the official rate in the open market. [4]

Pakistan's government has also told 4 state-owned firms to start importing LPG again, to ease the shortage. [4]

More homes buy cylinders as it gets colder, and the minister expects winter to peak in December and January. [4]

Economists call this an open auction: firms bid against each other where everyone can see. [4]

Under the old system, middlemen profited from how the gas was handed out. [4] An open sale is meant to cut them out. [4]

When a class bids tokens in public for the last trip seat, nobody gets it quietly through a friend.

Much of the detail comes from the petroleum minister, as reported by Radio Pakistan, the state broadcaster. [4]

A tenth of home-made LPG is set aside for state sellers to supply them. [4]

They rely on cylinders, which sell at twice the official rate in the open market. [4]

What a cylinder of cooking gas will cost in Pakistan once the auctions run.

The petroleum minister described how the gas will be sold, and the report gives no figure for a cylinder. [4]

Pakistan's government unveiled a car policy on Saturday that it says will make most cars cheaper. [5]

Carmakers may not take more than 20% of a car's price as a deposit at booking. [5]

It targets 'on-money', the extra charges buyers have paid to get a car booked. [5]

Import duties on cars and parts will fall each year for 5 years. [5] Pakistan's government says prices will come down gradually. [5]

Sales tax would be 1% on electric cars, 6% on range-extended ones and 9% on hybrids. [5] The International Monetary Fund must approve it. [5]

The State Bank of Pakistan's car-loan scheme will lend up to 10 million rupees for electric cars. [5] For ordinary cars it lends up to 3 million. [5]

The policy says its cheaper cars are especially for middle-class and lower-middle-class buyers. [5]

Economists call this a cross-subsidy: a charge on one group pays for a break for another. [5]

Here a levy on engine cars above 1,000cc, ordinary cars, is meant to pay for the electric car breaks. [5]

Older pupils pay a little more for a school trip so the younger ones can come for less.

The adviser, Haroon Akhtar Khan, promised car prices would come down but gave no amount. [5]

The cabinet began approving the policy on Saturday. [5]

They would pay 1% sales tax and could borrow up to 10 million rupees through the State Bank of Pakistan's scheme. [5]

A new levy on their cars is meant to pay for the electric car breaks. [5]

How much cheaper Pakistani cars will get, and when.

The adviser promised lower prices with no amount, and the electric car sales tax still needs the IMF's approval. [5]

More than 120 people queued outside Forbidden Planet, a London shop, on Friday. [6] They wanted a new Pokemon card set. [6]

Kai, a fan there since 3am, guessed the queue was 50/50 fans and resellers. [6]

The shop sold one 49.99-pound 'elite trainer' box to each customer. [6]

The Guardian expected the set to sell at big mark-ups on eBay by the end of the day. [6]

In September small card shops said thieves were opening their parcels in the post, as card prices soared. [7]

Parents trying to buy cards for their children now ask for help in Reddit and Facebook groups. [6]

Forbidden Planet has an unsealing policy, asked for by the supplier. [6] An opened product cannot be sold on as brand new. [6]

A sealed box can be sold on as new and an opened one cannot, which deters some resellers. [6]

A baker who slices each loaf at the counter stops anyone reselling it as a whole fresh loaf.

The 50/50 split is one fan's guess from the queue, not a count. [6]

A games shop in Hessle, near Hull, runs a free kids' club and keeps cards back for regular players. [6]

A box bought at the shop price was expected to sell on eBay at a big mark-up the same day. [6]

They queue in the early hours or pay resale prices for cards meant for play. [6]

How many of the people in the Pokemon queue were resellers.

The 50/50 split is one fan's guess, and nobody counted. [6]

About 4 in 10 US workers with a health FSA lost unspent money in 2024, research found. [8]

An FSA is a work account that pays health bills from pay taken before tax. [8]

Those who lost money forfeited $404 on average. [8]

The Employee Benefit Research Institute, a research group, studied more than 3.3 million accounts. [8]

About a third of users face a strict rule: money unspent by the deadline is lost. [8]

Other plans let workers carry up to $680 into next year. [8] Others give up to 2.5 extra months, but never both. [8]

Workers must choose how much to put in before the year begins, and health costs are hard to guess. [8]

Financial planners weigh the tax an FSA saves against the money forfeited. [8] At a 35% tax rate, putting in $3,400 saves about $1,190. [8]

So a worker who loses less than $1,190 still ends up ahead, planner Sean Lovison says. [8]

A gym pass bought at a big discount still pays off even if a few sessions are skipped.

The $1,190 is a planner's example, which assumes a 35% total tax rate and no money from the employer. [8]

That average loss was down from $436 in 2023. [8]

The IRS said on Thursday the most a worker can put in will rise to $3,500 in 2027, from $3,400. [8]

Money a worker leaves unspent by the deadline goes back to the employer. [8]

US workers who lost unspent money from a health FSA in 2024 lost $404 on average, down from $436 the year before.

Pop Mart, maker of Labubu dolls, said July-to-September sales fell by up to 50% on a year before. [9]

Its sales in the US fell by at least 70%. [9]

Labubus are small furry monster dolls sold in 'blind boxes', sealed so buyers cannot see which one is inside. [9]

A box often cost $15 or more, and fans bought box after box to find the doll they wanted. [9]

One collector, Ensito, says he has spent more than $50,000 on more than 400 dolls. [9]

Pop Mart's shares have fallen by more than 50% from last year's peak. [9]

Some collectors told the BBC they now buy only dolls they like, not every new series. [9]

Marketers call it a blind box: buyers cannot see which toy they get, so many keep buying. [9]

As Pop Mart made more dolls, the sense of rarity that drove the buying faded, an analyst told the BBC. [9]

Stickers are exciting to swap while they are rare, and the swapping stops once every shop has them.

Pop Mart declined to comment on its share price and did not answer questions on falling sales. [9]

A group, the Kitchen Table Project, proposes letting any US grocer buy 20 staples at US government auction prices. [10]

In return, each shop would sell them at a mark-up set in advance and posted for shoppers. [10]

The group's report estimates a family of 4 would save about $315 a year. [10]

The US farm department, USDA, already buys food by auction for school lunches. [10]

For 6 of the 20 items, including eggs, milk and ground beef, the report shows no saving. [10]

Ground beef costs close to $7 a pound because the US cattle herd is the smallest in 75 years. [10]

Small shops pay more for the same eggs because they buy fewer cases, writes food economist David Ortega. [10]

Economists call this purchasing power: buying in bulk wins a lower price per case. [10]

Pooling every shop's orders through one auction could give a corner shop close to a big chain's price, Ortega says. [10]

Classmates who club together for one big pizza each pay less than buying slices alone.

The report does not say who sets the mark-up, Ortega notes. [10] A shop could raise prices on its other items, he warns. [10]

A shop holding 20 prices down could raise the rest, so the saving could vanish across the whole cart. [10]

Who would set the posted mark-up in the Kitchen Table Project's grocery plan.

The report does not say, and shop costs in the Bronx and in Lansing differ, Ortega notes. [10]