With an average of more than 30,000 people dying each year from cold-related conditions, you might have thought that the Government would act decisively to remedy the problem. It has, after all, made Britain's roads a warren of speed traps and traffic-calming measures in an effort to cut the far lower 3,500 annual death toll from car accidents.

But for some reason - perhaps because MPs can claim their energy bills on expenses - fuel poverty remains low on the political agenda. Indeed, the Government's failure on this issue has been monumental.

Academic studies have shown conclusively that fuel poverty and poorly insulated homes contribute to the high death rate in winter. But despite raking in an extra £600 million a year from VAT receipts on soaring energy bills, the Government has actually cut the budget of Warm Front, an organisation that helps the elderly to insulate their homes.

The Government's action on social tariffs has been equally inadequate. The energy company nPower, which is apparently determined to usurp British Gas as the bête noire of the industry, helps only one twentieth of 1 per cent of its customers with their bills. So what does the Government do in the face of such intransigence? Absolutely nothing.

It refuses to legislate to make suppliers put vulnerable customers on social tariffs. Even the Government's plan to force the industry to spend £1 billion a year on energy efficiency is deceptive because this will be funded by a £38-a-year levy on domestic bills - an increase that will inevitably exacerbate the problem of fuel poverty.

Then there is the debacle surrounding the sale of British Energy. Despite owning 35 per cent of the company, the Government has refused to rule out a sale to EDF, a move that would almost certainly drive up domestic prices by giving a single supplier a monopoly on nuclear-generated electricity. And despite mounting evidence to the contrary, Ofgem, the energy regulator, continues to insist that the energy market is competitive.

To solve the energy industry's problems we need a truly competitive market, an effective regulator and a government committed to helping the most disadvantaged customers.

At present, we have none of the above.

BT take note, the home phone is an endangered species

Will the home phone go the way of the Betamax video? Perhaps not for a while yet, but the advent of the dongle has surely hastened the demise of the landline.

For those who do not know their Bluetooths from their BlackBerrys, a dongle is a portable modem that you can plug in to your laptop or home computer to gain internet access via the mobile network. As we report on page 12, this clever device with a silly name can now be yours for as little as £10 a month, meaning it makes financial sense to ditch your landline if you are prepared to use your mobile phone for all telephone calls. Why pay £20 a month, or more, for a landline with traditional ISDN internet access when you can pay £10 a month for mobile internet access?

Ditching the landline makes even more sense when BT - by far the largest landline company with more than ten million customers - seems more determined than ever to hit customers with sneaky charges, large price rises and substandard service.

According to uSwitch's annual home phone customer satisfaction survey, which was published this week, the former monopoly telecoms provider recorded the lowest score in nine out of eleven categories, including value for money and overall customer satisfaction. Understandably, many BT customers are unhappy at having to fork out more to pay their bills in cash or have their account statements sent through the post. Another gripe is the recent increase in charges for daytime calls.

But it wasn't much better for the industry as a whole, with overall customer satisfaction levels sinking to their lowest level since the survey began. Almost 50 per cent of respondents are not happy with the service they are receiving. If the industry, and BT in particular, does not start treating its customers a bit better, the end of the line could be reached much sooner than anyone expects. Ian Livingston, the new chief executive of BT, you have been warned.

A chink of light, but this could be an awfully long tunnel

There were two rare pieces of good news for homeowners this week. First, the Bank of England's decision to cut the cost of borrowing by a quarter of a percentage point. Secondly, HSBC's decision to grab a share of the mortgage market with its rate-matcher offer. But nobody should be under any illusions that either of these are the panacea that will solve the credit crisis.

Although lower interest rates are good news for existing customers on tracker or variable-rate mortgages, it is unlikely to have a massive or immediate impact on the deals available for new borrowers.

And while the HSBC deal (see Mortgage Watch, facing page), offers some hope to borrowers looking at large increases in their monthly repayments, it is not yet clear how the fee structure will work. This could make the offer prohibitively expensive for many. It is also of benefit only to borrowers who have substantial equity in their homes. Although most people who remortgage are in this luxurious position, many are not. The credit crunch still has some way to run.