When I wrote the review below, prices had gone up by 50% since January 2008, with British Gas agents profusely blaming rise in oil prices for rises in both Gas and Electricity. Fair point? By July oil was at a record $147 a barrel at its peak. Since then oil has collapsed to a 2 year low of $52 a barrel and still falling, I spoke to British Gas about this -- they say that gas is already in the system paid for at the old prices! On Radio 4's Today program, they continued along this line when pressed about price rising the moment oil goes up, but stubbornly high when oil comes down.
Remember, not a penny has come off gas or electricity - yet when the first wave of oil price rises began in January 2008, gas prices went up by 15% and a further rise of 35% in August. It is now five months on, and British Gas are giving away gas since they have no storage capacity, but the consumer has to pay, Moreover, all sectors of the economy which are linked to oil have seen their prices fall eg food, petrol - but not a single penny of Gas or Electric.
Yet their
direct debit schemes, after YEARLY assessments more than double your monthly payments without any regard for anyone's ability to pay.
In my view, this is a profiteering scam, and the beneficiaries are the private owners of what should be public enterprise.
END OF UPDATE ------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------
British Gas - part of Centrica has had a lot of bad publicity since it was a private monopoly and competition opened up in 1996. Since then British Gas has been trying to improve its image.
Customer Service used to be apalling, customers used to wait 1hr + in the que and matters were still not resolved. As a result when competition opened customers left British Gas in their millions. Not to mention they were the most expensive at the time.
Direct debit system and the dual fuel discounts actually worked well if there were no mistakes. Unfortunately with British Gas, there were alot of mistakes. For example, billing errors, overcharging and incorrect amounts made many customers frustrated.
I personally was at the end of my tether when I moved home, leaving at the time NPower, with bills relatively cheap and no effective problems, The new property was with British Gas, and I was dreading the bills and the poor customer service.
But then I tried to make life easier and set up duel fuel direct debit which would have saved money, What happens is you pay a set amount each month credited to your account and that is used up by the energy usage and a quartly statement is sent.
I tried on acount first and then the other. But what annoyed me was how easily British Gas upped my monthly payments for electricity and gas to reflect the amount I used. But to bring them down again, what a nightmare! Anyway, I noticed particularly my electric quartely bill had a surplus and was bulding. I became concerned that why I was paying so much when I was using so little.
But, before even contacting British Gas, or even contemplating switching, I received a suprising statement from British Gas. From here on, my view on the company altered. They sent me a statement of the surplus accumulated and told me that your monthly payments are going to be reduced to the original amount reflecting the energy usage. Ok, now that made me feel better, but then..... they went further. They said 'we are also crediting your bank account with the surplus created here' .
I was very suprised, I certainly wasn't expecting a refund unless I begged for it. Here they gave it without me even asking for it! I was very impressed.Since then I have remained with British Gas with no problems. Moreover, its call centre waiting times have grealty improved. I don't think I have waited more than 10 minutes to get through.
PRICE HIKES However, over the last year, my bills are sky rocketing, because British Gas had put up there prices by 15% earlier this year and as of 30th July 2008 they are going up by another 35% ! Not a happy bunny, because they now are again the most expensive in the industry.
Talking of hikes, it is said that British Gas are profits are down by 70% this year yet they managed £1bn profits. They base the hikes on 89p a therm, yet prices on wholesale markets are falling sharply at below 32p a therm.
However, they are fixing these prices (so they say) till 2011.
The question is, do I stay or do I switch? There is no guarantee that others too will not raise their prices in the coming weeks.
But all in all, companies such as Centrica (owners of British Gas) need to make profits, and it is tempting at the top to maximise them, greed then comes to mind, because as long as there is a 'silver lining' for the executives in their pockets, it doesn't matter what the prices are. But competition has to some extent forced British Gas to improve its ways.
So I am split whether to recommend this company to anyone. My experience is relatively good, but now expensive. There seems to be no loyalty factor here, but many other companies are better service providers and now even cheaper. If you generally don't problems, billing is now (it seems) ok, and if you do, well its like Russian Roulette! If you find the right person he or she will resolve the issue very quickly. Find the wrong person, you will be passed around departments until the musical chairs stop playing music!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Jul 31st, 2008
(Nov 28th, 2008)
exceptional by (3%):
very helpful by (97%):
