British Gas unbiased review: How do they compare?

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What’s in this review?

 

Are you looking for British Gas reviews?

Then you’re in the right place.

Take a look at this guide to see what they can offer you and what their customers truly think.

Introduction

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British Gas has a history spanning over 200 years. From The Gas Light & Coke Company formed in 1812 by George III to the gas industry being privatised in 1986, which lead to the creation of British Gas PLC, British Gas has been at the forefront of Britain’s energy since the beginning.

British Gas is the largest supplier of domestic electricity and gas in the UK, but does that mean that they are the best? What are their customers saying?

Let’s take a look.

Costs and Fees

For an estimated quote of how much you might be able to expect from British Gas, take a look at the table below. This is for a three bedroom house that houses approximately three to four people.

British Gas tariffs	Personal Projection		Total Monthly Projection
HomeEnergy Secure Feb 2020	Gas £44.10 a month (£529.21 a year)	Electricity £46.67 a month (£560.07 a year)	£90.77 per month
Energy Plus Protection Sept 2019	Gas £44.60 a month (£535.18 a year)	Electricity £47.17 a month (£566.04 a year)	£91.77 per month

Core services & offering

British Gas offers these benefits to their customers as well as providing electricity and gas.

Products for your Smart Home

Smart Meters

Smart Meters are the new generation of a meter, and could save you both time and money!

How?

✔Your smart meter will send meter readings to British Gas
✔Their monitor allows you to track your energy usage
✔Save money by seeing where your energy is going
✔Top up from anywhere using their app

Hive

Hive products are wireless smart products that allow you to control your home from your phone, at any time, anywhere. This includes having a way to schedule your appliances to turn off automatically, controlling your lights and live video so you can see what’s going on at home regardless of where you are.

Hive View

✔Live steam of your home
✔Get notified when there is movement in your home
✔Access the last 24 hours of footage from your app
✔Capture your home at any angle

Hive Active Lights

✔Set schedules and brightness levels
✔Save energy by controlling your lights remotely
✔If you’re away from home, ‘mimic mode’ can make it look like you’re still there
✔Set up quick action to group together lights

Hive Active Plugs

✔Schedule your appliances to turn off automatically
✔Schedule your bedroom lamp to come on

Hive Sensors

✔When you are away, you will be told when there is a breach
✔Use with hive actions to save on your heating and lighting
✔You can check if you have shut your windows properly, giving you peace of mind

Hive Hub

✔Connects all of your Hive products so that you can control everything from the app

Boiler IQ

What is Boiler IQ? Primarily, it monitors your boiler to detect when it stops heating or generating hot water, so you don’t get left in a difficult situation.

✔Peace of mind
✔Convenience
✔Prepared engineers

Amazon Alexa

British Gas customers can now get in touch via Alexa.

Find out this information:

✔Find out your current tariff
✔Check your balance
✔Submit a meter reading
✔Emergency numbers

This is what you need to do:

HomeCare

These products help you keep your home warm and functional, whether it’s your boiler, central heating, plumbing or electrics, the British Gas HomeCare (HC) cover helps you avoid the unexpected costs of breakdowns.

	HC One £12.00 a month	HomeCare Two £14.50 £13.20 a month	HC Three £18.00 £16.38 a month	HomeCare Four £20.50 £18.66 a month
Annual boiler service	✔	✔	✔	✔
Boiler and controls	✔	✔	✔	✔
Central heating		✔	✔	✔
Plumbing			✔	✔
Drains			✔	✔
Home electrics				✔

Warm Home Discount

The warm home discount is a government scheme to help those at risk for fuel poverty by giving them a one-off payment of £140 to set off against your energy costs.

Customer Support

When it comes to customer support, British Gas does not have good reviews from trusted sources such as Trustpilot. They only have a 1-star rating, which is out of almost 4,000 reviews in total.

Positive Customer Support Review

Karilyn on Trustpilot:

We have always had excellent service from British Gas for our duel fuel, all appointments have been on time by friendly staff and had no problems with our direct debit set up. We even won the Hive system free of charge.

Negative Customer Support Review

Mark Smallcombe on Trustpilot:

The worst energy company who will rip you off. I will never deal with this company again especially when told by a customer service representative that is charged so much when my tariff was changed without notification was my fault? Really? My advice does not use this energy company.

Contract Length and Fees

British Gas offers a variety of tariffs for their customers that are mainly differentiated by whether they are fixed or variable.

Fixed: A fixed rate tariff means that the cost of your energy is set, usually for a term like the British Gas ‘Energy Plus Protection Sept 2019’, which is a fixed price tariff until 30th of September 2019.

Variable: Variable tariffs mean that the cost of your energy is dependent on the wholesale market prices, which can be affected by anything from current events to the time of the year.

Safeguard PAYG	Energy Plus Protection Sept 2019	HomeEnergy Secure Feb 2020
Variable	Fixed	Fixed
Available to Pay As You Go, customers	Fixed price tariff until 30th September 2019	Fixed price energy until 29th February 2020
No exit fees	Manage your account online	Control everything with an online account
	Includes Boiler & controls breakdown cover, Plumbing & drains cover and Home electrical cover	An exit fee of £40 per fuel
	An exit fee of £30 per fuel
	For more information click here

British Gas Reviews

British Gas has a mixed online reputation on Trustpilot, with 37% of the reviews positive and 41% falling within the negative category, the rest falling somewhere in the middle.

Some of the negative reviews are regarding the regular price increases for their tariffs, but it is worth noting that most energy companies are having to increase the costs of their tariffs due to the rising prices of energy.

Positive British Gas Reviews

Ali Hussain on Trustpilot:

My usual customer service experience in the past has been atrocious with utility companies. Had a problem with my last few bills but I’m glad they resolved it quickly as opposed to other companies who drag their heels when you complain.

Negative British Gas Reviews

Andrew on Trustpilot:

British gas homecare was good for the first three years, until about two years ago. Started reducing their engineers and then the cancelled appointments began increasing. Got ridiculous, 3 cancelled appts in a row this year so far. The last one was again cancelled at the last minute – having been booked for two weeks ago – and they offered to reschedule for two months into the future. Unacceptable.

Company Comparison

Company	Bulb	So Energy	Affect	British Gas
Overall Trustpilot Score	★★★★★	★★★★★	★★★★★	★
Discounts	No	No	£15.75 per fuel per year	£15 per fuel by paying by debit card
The average cost for dual fuel three bedrooms home	£82	£78	£90.00	£90
Positive Reviews on Trustpilot	92% Positive	86% Positive	86% Positive	37% Positive

Who Should Use the Company?

British Gas might be the best fit for customers that would like more control over their energy and their home.

With the vast variety of smart home gadgets available and cover for most of your essential items like boilers, you can rest assured that British Gas will protect your home from the cold winter months.