How to win at the windfalls game

Portman Building Society's 1.8 million members can expect payouts of at least £200 each after the society's merger with Nationwide. Merger activity is being driven by the potential for building societies, or mutuals, to cut costs and gain a greater share of the mortgage, savings and investment markets but can we, the consumer, take advantage of further windfalls?

Most of the UK's 62 building societies have long insisted that new members sign away rights to demutualisation payouts under the charitable assignment' clause to deter carpetbaggers' those who open an account simply to cash in on any possible gains following a stockmarket float.

But demutualisations are not the same as mergers, says Sam Dunn in The Independent on Sunday. In contrast to demutualisation payouts, in the past five years merger windfalls have usually been given to all members, regardless of how long they have held the account.

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When Lambeth was taken over by Portman earlier this year, Lambeth borrowers gained at least £400 and savers up to £2,500. Many had signed away windfall rights, but there was no such rule governing a merger. The only qualification was that members had to have been saving or borrowing at least £100 on 31 January 2006.

After the Lambeth deal, Kent Reliance building society pulled in customers by scrapping its demand that new members sign away rights to payouts should it demutualise. As for future merger targets, Chelsea, Skipton and Leeds building societies have all been tipped. So is it worth opening an account with building societies that let you keep your windfall rights? Adrian Coles of the Building Societies Association dismisses the idea of predicting mergers, but given how little effort it takes to open an account, it's surely worth a punt. You could either open a few accounts and deposit at least £100 in each, or target a couple with decent savings rates (The Chesham's Save Direct postal account pays a healthy 4.75% AER on balances over £2,500) and hope for the best. See www.bsa.org.uk for a list of UK building societies.

Green electricity tariffs: the truth

Contrary to popular belief, being on a green electricity tariff doesn't mean that you are not responsible for CO2 emissions, says Will Anderson in The Independent. There is simply not enough renewable energy to go round. Renewable power generators in the UK meet around 3% of the total demand. Anything that increases the overall demand on the nation's power supply is met by coal-fired power stations, regardless of whom the power is ostensibly bought from. So if you want to be green, buy power from a firm that is spending money on a new plant, such as Ecotricity, make sure your heating is gas, not electric, and do turn off the lights.