After 11 years of privatisation, British Gas demerged in the year 1997 to form the BG Group and the Gas Sales and Gas Trading, Services and Retail business. After which point, all the services formed part of the parent company Centrica. The company continues to serve as a home energy supplier for more than 12 million UK homes and has the biggest market share in the domestic energy supply market. British Gas is also known as Scottish Gas in Scotland and Nwy Prydain in Wales.
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According to an independent YouGov survey, British Gas has a huge number of gas and electricity customers to its credit. Out of all, 75% customers give it a positive nod for excellent customer service satisfaction. It is rated excellent in offering incentives and rewards. This clearly suggests that the gas and electricity provider reigns high on the domestic energy market and has a good connection with its customers. It is also the only Big Six energy suppliers that has not increased its domestic energy prices in 2017. If you plan to switch to their energy tariffs then it may prove to be one of the cheaper energy suppliers amongst the Big Six energy providers.
Tariff Name | Tariff type | Cancellation fee | Annual Avg cost | |
British Gas – HomeEnergy Fix Nov 2021v3 | Fixed Tariff | £60.00 | £1065.11 | Compare now |
British Gas – Simply Fixed Energy Sep 2021 | Fixed Tariff | £00.00 | £891.38 | Compare now |
British Gas – Energy Plus Home Cover Sep 2021 | Fixed Tariff | £00.00 | £876.98 | Compare now |
British Gas – Energy Plus Home Cover Sep 2021v3 | Fixed Tariff | £00.00 | £891.38 | Compare now |
OFGEM guidelines suggest that all energy suppliers must publish fuel mix information that they are using to generate the energy for the UK household.
We have listed figures for the last 5 years below which are taken from Britishgas.com for you to understand the mix of fuels used to supply energy to your home.
Energy Source | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
Coal | 4.00% | 7.00% | 11.00% | 2.00% | 11.00% |
Gas | 29.00% | 37.00% | 35.00% | 30.00% | 33.00% |
Nuclear | 9.00% | 11.00% | 10.00% | 34.00% | 31.00% |
Renewable | 56.00% | 43.00% | 40.00% | 33.00% | 23.00% |
Other | 2.00% | 2.00% | 4.00% | 0.70% | 2.00% |
CO2 Emission | 157 g/kWh | 210 g/kWh | 252 g/kWh | 137 g/kWh | 240 g/kWh |
Nuclear Waste | 0.00060 g/kWh | 0.00080 g/kWh | 0.00070 g/kWh | 0.00240 g/kWh | 0.00220 g/kWh |
Price changes in 2020
Price drop by 2% – British gas decreased by 2% for standard variable tariffs in February 2020 which will be effective from April 2020.
Price changes in 2019
Price drop by 6% – British gas dropped prices by 6% as per OFGEM price cap reduction in August 2019 and were in effect from October 2019.
Price increase by 10% – British gas announced 10% price increase in February 2019 which affected 4 million standard variable tariff customers. Price rise came in to force on 01 of April 19
Price changes in 2018
Price increase by 5.5% – British gas up their prices by 5.5% in April 2018 and effective from 29/05/20018 for dual fuel variable rate tariffs
Price changes in 2017
Price increase by 12.5% – British gas announced price rises for electricity by 12.5% in August 2017, on 15/09/2017 price rise came in effect.
Furthermore, in October 2013 that the company announced a 9.2% price rise in its energy supplies. The rise was brought in effect on 23 November 2013. In addition, the supplier announced three price cuts for customers that relied on their home energy plans. However, it has not raised gas and electricity prices in recent times, in fact, it has frozen its energy tariff prices until August 2017, which is contrary to the energy price increase announced by the rest of the Big Six energy providers.
British Gas received a total of 128,980 complaints and resolved 124,024 complaints in Q4 2019. 38.1% of the complaints were resolved within 48 hours and 87.7% of the complaints were resolved within 8 weeks. During the same period, British gas received 1,717 Ombudsman complaints (OFGEM). Top 5 complaints reasons were metering, billing, customer service, payments and communication.
Reporting period in Q/Y | Q4 2019 | Q3 2019 | Q2 2019 | Q1 2019 | Q4 2018 |
Total complaints received | 128980 | 145310 | 162609 | 181622 | 188605 |
Received per 100k customer accounts | 1092 | 1228 | 1366 | 1524 | 1560 |
Total Complaints resolved | 124024 | 137660 | 157159 | 174047 | 188069 |
Resolved per 100k customer accounts | 1050 | 1163 | 132 | 1460 | 1556 |
Resolved within 48 hours | 38.10% | 41.90% | 48.90% | 54.70% | 57.90% |
Resolved within 8 weeks | 87.70% | 88.90% | 90.40% | 91.20% | 92.40% |
Source – British gas website
Reasons | Metering | Billing | Customer service | Payments | Communications |
Q4 2019 | 15% | 21% | 13% | 21% | 7% |
Q3 2019 | 12% | 22% | 13% | 22% | 8% |
Q2 2019 | 13% | 21% | 16% | 22% | 6% |
Q1 2019 | 14% | 20% | 16% | 21% | 6% |
Q4 2018 | 14% | 18% | 15% | 25% | 6% |
Source – British gas website
Gas and Electricity | 0333 202 9532 | EV chargers | |
Pay as you go | 0333 202 9433 | Ford | 0333 202 1054 |
Home services | 0333 200 8899 | Elli Volkswagen | 0333202 1055 |
Installations | 0333 202 9560 | Hitachi | 0333202 1056 |
Green deal | 0330 111 8098 |
Source – British gas website
If you are not happy with the outcome, you can get in touch with Ombudsman. Here’s more details:
Ombudsman
Telephone no – 0330 440 1624
Textphone – 0330 440 1600
Email – [email protected]
https://www.ombudsman-services.org/energy
How can you get in touch with British Gas customer service?
By email – [email protected]
By Calling them:
Moving home help line – 0800 048 0303
Gas emergency – 0800 111 999
Pay as you go customer line – 0800 048 0303
Top up pay as you go – 0800 107 0188
British Gas Business supplies commercial gas and electricity to more than 300,000 SME, medium, large businesses and corporate businesses throughout the UK.
British Gas Business electricity prices in April 2020
Standing Charge | Unit Price kWh | Standing Charger | Unit Price kWh | Standing Charger | Unit Price kWh |
1 year | 1 year | 2 year | 2 year | 3 year | 3 year |
33.21 | 13.38 | 33.18 | 13.61 | 33.21 | 13.38 |
Prices correct as of 17/03/2020 and based on a business electricity meter type 03
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