British Gas to Offer 'Free Electricity Saturdays'

In a radical move to reduce the strain on the national power grid through the week, British Gas have announced that they will be offering free electricity on Saturdays. Centrica, British Gas’ parent company, have already trialled this scheme in America could please everyone by cutting carbon emissions as well as benefitting the poorest families.

“He also said large businesses should be paid to ration their electricity usage on weekdays as a cheaper solution to a looming energy crunch than building new power plants that would only run ‘for a few hours a year’.

The 'free electricity Saturdays’ plan would require customers to have 'smart meters’, which send automatic usage readings back to the company. British Gas has installed 1m smart meters in UK homes and businesses to date.

Mr Laidlaw faced questions from analysts over whether the tariff would be seen as irresponsible by encouraging higher usage at a time when ministers are attempting to cut carbon emissions. ‘We will think very carefully about how we launch it [in the UK],’ he said.

However he insisted it would not necessarily lead to a rise in consumption, rather encouraging consumers to shift the timing of electricity-intensive activities. This could reduce the need to fire up extra power plants to meet demand on weekdays and reduce carbon emissions overall, he said.

Centrica's US business Direct Energy already offers the tariff to customers in the north-east US and is rolling out the tariff in Texas.

It hopes ‘ultimately’ to be able to offer it in the UK. ‘We are some distance away from getting all the systems in place,’ he told the Telegraph. ‘We want to see how well it works in Texas.’

The tariff could be launched mid-2014, Centrica said.

In the US customers enjoying ‘free’ electricity on Saturdays also face higher charges the rest of the time. However, Mr Laidlaw said consumers stood to benefit and it tended to be ‘low income high consuming families that take advantage of this, which is socially progressive not regressive’.

Mr Laidlaw was speaking as Centrica revealed a 9pc rise in half-year adjusted operating profits, to £1.58bn, as increased earnings from British Gas and gas storage and production offset falling profits from power plants.

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Mr Laidlaw echoed recent warnings over possible power shortages as old plants close, saying there was a risk ‘if there are further plant closures without new investment’. However, he said ‘we should recognise that the risk is probably for a few hours a year’.

‘If there are ways in which we can work on demand response then... that can be a much more cost effective way of solving the security of supply situation than building a lot of plant that’s only going to run for a few hours a year,’ he said.

In June ministers courted controversy by backing a National Grid to pay large businesses to switch off between 4pm and 8pm on weeknights.

But Mr Laidlaw said the plan was sensible and the Hess energy supply business in America, which Centrica agreed to buy in a $1bn deal on Tuesday, already operated a similar scheme where customers who wish to ‘receive an additional incentive not to take power at certain times of the day’.

However, he criticised a parallel National Grid plan to pay companies to keep running power plants they would otherwise mothball. Mr Laidlaw said ministers should instead bring forward the introduction of a new system of capacity auctions that are not due to start making payments until 2018. ‘Having two forms of capacity mechanism, one for the short term and one for the long term, is a very complex way of doing it and may result in unintended consequences,’ he warned.

Mr Laidlaw said all Centrica’s potential UK power plant investments were on hold ‘waiting on subsidies’. A proposed £2bn offshore wind farm that it had hoped to take an investment decision this year was now caught up in a policy backlog awaiting confirmation of subsidies until the end of the year, and EU state aid clearance.

Mr Laidlaw said it would be ‘prudent’ for ministers to offer subsidies to encourage more gas storage, such as Centrica’s planned £1.4bn Baird project, as an ‘insurance policy’ to prevent the kinds of spikes seen in the March cold spell when storage levels fell ‘uncomfortably low’.

‘The risk is that if you have a situation where you are struggling for security of supply, you have to pay the highest price in the world to bring LNG to the UK. That could mean very significant additional costs on customer bills,’ he said.”

This article was originally sourced from The Telegraph.

If you are interested in any of the services British Gas offer, contact their customer services department using the number listed on the following link http://www.customerservicescontact.co.uk/british-gas-telephone-number/. You can find more information on customer services on our Ezine page.

British Gas Urged to Leave Prices Still

Utilities company British Gas are being pushed towards firming up their energy bills for the coming winter. Centrica, the company’s owner, reported a rise in profits last year but will not be making plans in either direction any time soon.

“Centrica's chief financial officer Nick Luff would not rule out a price rise as he warned that British Gas is under pressure from environmental levies and volatile prices on the wholesale gas market.

"What I can do is assure you that we will keep our prices as low as we can. It is in our interests to have competitive prices, we want to attract new customers, and if prices do have to go up we will delay that for as long as possible."

Centrica - which hiked prices by 6% last November - reported a 9% increase in profits to £1.58bn for the first six months of the year for its entire business spanning power generation and supply. Profits in the residential arm of British Gas rose 3% to £356m from £345m, as the company reported that gas consumption was 13% higher per customer during the cold weather.

British Gas prompted widespread criticism with last year's price increase, which added £80 a year to the average dual-fuel customer's bill. The company, which serves 10m households, promised in May it would use its profits to keep prices down, but has refused to put a date on the duration of this price pledge.

Consumer groups urged British Gas to freeze energy bills for the rest of the year. Tom Lyon at uSwitch.com, said: "The fact that British Gas has absorbed increasing costs so far this year will be of cold comfort to consumers who may be fearing the worst – especially with rumours of price rises. Profits are up from last year, so we would urge British Gas to help quell customer's fears and go one step further from its May pledge and commit to a price freeze for the rest of the year."

"People are already starting to worry about next winter and the cost of their energy bills and high energy prices have a big impact on consumers. Last winter, almost seven in 10 (69%) households went without heating at some point to keep their energy costs down."

Centrica blamed "volatile" prices on the wholesale gas market and "environmental costs" for adding to price pressures on the business.

Wholesale gas prices accounted for 48% (£568) of the average annual gas and electricity bill of £1,188 for Centrica's customers in 2012.

Prices in the wholesale gas market were 10% higher than this time last year, said energy trader Gary Hornby at Inenco. "If there is another cold winter and we have another supply situation that we did last time there is a good chance that prices will unfortunately go up," he said. "If we have a mild winter it could go the other way."

Richard Hall, head of energy regulation at Consumer Futures, warned that the big energy companies were not giving consumers the full story about their costs. Large energy suppliers had a tendency to "cherry-pick" dates to make the case that high wholesale gas prices were pushing up prices. "It doesn't appear there is so much pressure on the wholesale market that it can justifiably be used as threat of justifying price rises." Although gas prices hit record highs in March, these on-the-day spikes were dampened out by later price falls, he added.

Centrica's profit report comes after an influential committee of MPs said it was not surprising that customers mistrusted energy companies because they had failed to be transparent about the reasons for energy price rises, in an energy market that was not as competitive as it could be.

Luff dismissed the charge of cherry-picking data: "Despite what you hear about the industry we could not be more transparent ... If by some way gas prices were running at half the price we were saying we would suddenly make a lot more profit.’”

If you are a new or existing British Gas customer and are interested in finding out more about the products and services they offer, contact them directly using the British Gas contact number. You can also remain up to date with all British Gas news via the following link http://www.customerservicescontact.co.uk/news/british-gas-news-update-price-scandal/.

This article was originally sourced from The Guardian.

Utilities Customer Service

There are certain aspects of life that are necessary but undesired, utilities are one of these! There are no two ways of looking at it, every household needs utilities but dealing with these companies is a nightmare for most people. The news are always reporting the most recent scandal or price increase coming from the utilities companies and this causes a fever among customers and a stigma around the companies that they are not delivering the best service possible.

Excusing the pun, there is no smoke without fire and this stigma has been built on a foundation of truth but as with banks and supermarkets, there is a constant struggle between supply and demand. There is a market for these establishments because there is a demand for them and there is competition because of the same reason; if the whole of society needs something there is not only room for more than one company but the customers also want choice, it is basic human intelligence that insists upon options. However, companies are expanding to such an extent that customers are now offered all of life’s necessities in one place – often with the option of a discount for using one company for more than one product.

This means that utilities companies are often associated with other amenities such as groceries or insurance but a common dilemma customers face includes running the risk of compromising on the level of customer service because the company are preoccupied with other products and services. Utilities are a necessity but this does not mean that service can compromised; if anything it would be in the company’s best interests to offer exceptionally high service because while the product is not optional the other services offered by the same company (for instance) are. Customers are far more likely to take the company up on the offer of an additional product or service if they receive very high customer care for the product they are already receiving.

These companies must ensure that they listen to their customers and offer them the best possible deals. This way they will retain current customers and draw in new customers simultaneously. It is proven that customer service is one of the major factors that customers take into account when looking at companies and when it’s an essential service, customers are more inclined to enter into contracts with those companies willing to go the extra mile as it were. Good customer service is easy to deliver – the assistants simply need to listen, acknowledge, respond and solve. The final stage may simply be acknowledgement of a problem but it is still crucial that customers know that the company is aware of their problem or issue, at the absolute minimum.

For more information on utilities companies and the products and services they offer, speak with the British Gas customer services team.