British Gas hikes its prices again

Airmike23

Thing is everyone wants the power comapnies to offer them a better deal, yet insurance we're all happy to shop around for, same credit cards etc. Too many people are reactive, rather than proactive when it comes to energy and find they are on a naff tariff, when they can change tariff with current supplier whenever they want - but - they have to call the current supplier to see if there is one, power companies have other variables factored into price charged other than cost of wholesale gas, but they rarely pass on the benefits they get when the cost goes down, to the customer which does stick in the craw some what!

c-m

I can leave them, i'm in arrears and pay a fixed amount per month :-(

Airmike23

Bummer, make sure you're on websaver 10 then, they're cheapest tariff, at least then current usage is charged at a reasonable price (i accept they have just increased unit rates by 7% but of BG's pricing is cheaper than essentials their social tariff)

mumbles_one

We just don't need so many companies all offering more or less the same thing. Lets just put them out of business and they won't be hiking prices again. Gas would cost half the current price if there was only one supplier. Remember the promises of free energy??? all that money wasted on fusion, LHC and all that wind and wave power. All public money down the drain because when it comes to getting some public payback then it seems the world still runs on coal, oil and gas and it always will. Time to get the Tories to renationalise all the public utilities.

Col7777

I got a phone call around 3 weeks ago from BG, as I used to be a customer, the lady talked me back to going with them again saying they were the cheapest gas in the country, I took a deal which keeps my gas price the same till 29th Feb 2012 (Websaver 10), but when I heard on the news that they are putting the price up I was mad.
How many more did they talk back to joining them like me and knowing they were going to put the price up, it said the very poor will be OK but the rest will pay the price, how are they going to decide who is poor, will people have to send copies of pensions and proof of outgoings etc?

Yellowcard

'Hike prices again'

AGAIN? It's been 2 years, what are you on about? and 7% is hardly a hike..

@webbit, complain to every available portlet, why? because your complaint e-mail to British Gas is suddenly going to bring the cost of purchasing energy down?

@dalek, yup, an extra £1.50 on gas AND electric a week is a sure fire way to freeze this winter, sure, deffinitely, yeah.

@lube slow to decrease? name me which other supplier lowered their prices 7% this year following the harshest winnter in decades to become the cheapest standard dual fuel supplier? no? ok.

@Col7777 obviously field sales agent / no member of frontline staff knew of the price increase until this morning, what a ridiculous accustation, also if you decide to cancel your order and move to another supplier the company have agreed to charge you at the sale rates at point of sale for the time you're with them if you choose to move, although if you're set to join on web10 then i'd highly suggest hanging fire as you're on a pretty grat deal and the other suppliers are expected to increase aswell

British Gas has made all the facts and figures quite clear how much purchasing gas has increased by, its made the facts quite clear about how much transporting gas has increased by. It's been well publicised that british gas is having 20 billion of its profit until 2020 put straight into renewable energy under government regulations which is more than any other supplier for the pure fact theyre the biggest and have to be looked to to lead the way and make the biggest contribution, and also well publicised via ofgem that bills from all providers are going to increase to cover the cost of installing smart meters into every UK home. Also it's probably worth mentioning BG prices are still over £100 cheaper now than they were 12 months ago and have numberous online/fixed price tariffs available, also if you're not paying by direct debit the discounts on that alone will most likely combat the increases announced today

Spouting the crap that everyone should boycott BG to avoid them putting their prices up is hilariously ridiculous, surely its not escaped your notice theyre not the only provider to put their prices up? And that when they do others usually follow suit? Although in this case BG have put it off enough to be pipped to the post with SSE already upping their gas prices by over 9%. Whichever provider you're with the cost of wholesale gas has increased and in time your unit prices will adjust to reflect this. Also, several million BG customers have had the effect of the increase limited (if atall touched) by a choice in choosing to go online to make substantial savings or fixing your prices. Theres a ton of things customers can do to help out with the gas/electric bills ,apparently a majority just prefer to sit there with the heating on all day every day and complain.

Sometime this website really should be called iwantsomethingfornothing.com.

Seriously, some of the posts/opinions, wow.

Gerrard_8_lfc

dizziblonde wrote: »

Give it two weeks - they'll all price hike then. They all wait for BG to do it first and take the brunt of the outcry.

Thank you.

I was waiting for someone to say this because if I did I would be bias ect ect.

I have just choose EDF for the £180 cashback and happy, However it seems acceptable for ever other supplier to announce an increase bust not BG, When they do its an outcry. BG offered the cheapest standard electricty prices for a while and extra benefits to customers but after todays response they are the worst people on earth.

As many people have said BG profits a small compared to the likes of Sainsburys & Tesco but 2 pence extra for a pint of milk is ok. BG make like £3 per customer per month on dual fuel its hardly excessive.

Yellowcard

Gerrard_8_lfc wrote: »

Thank you.

I was waiting for someone to say this because if I did I would be bias ect ect.

I have just choose EDF for the £180 cashback and happy, However it seems acceptable for ever other supplier to announce an increase bust not BG, When they do its an outcry. BG offered the cheapest standard electricty prices for a while and extra benefits to customers but after todays response they are the worst people on earth.

As many people have said BG profits a small compared to the likes of Sainsburys & Tesco but 2 pence extra for a pint of milk is ok. BG make like £3 per customer per month on dual fuel its hardly excessive.

Spot on with the months they held as the cheapest standard ele supplier and for the large part cheapest dual fuel supplier. The comparison you made there with Tesco is spot on also, BG make around 5p on every pound in profit, which to be fair to them, is fair, theyre a business and they provide a service, the announcement of the millions BG make and the billions centrica make is before a large portion of that profit is moved across to factor in to the 20 billion the government want from them to fund renewable energy, funny how customers always choose to forget things like that!

magyar

davidgmmafan wrote: »

Until we have an international comparison I can't understand people jumping on thie bankwagon. If we are getting shafted relative to other European countries then I'd be furious. But I've never seen these figures, anyone have them to hand? Or does it not make a good headline?

Far from it, we are actually quite cheap compared to most countries.

http://www.metering.com/node/15300

Some countries like France are cheaper but their system is heavily subsidised by the taxpayer.

We actually have a very competitive market in the UK but as usual people would rather believe it is all a big conspiracy.

Airmike23

Apart from um average and below user leaving current supplier on that co's standard tariff and joining bf on their standard tariff, that is the only time bf can claim to have been the cheapest. Single fuel ( elec) againmight go for it but other than standard bf tariffs aredecidedly middle of the road in terms of the Market position. The only thing bg have going for them is brand identity and well oiled sales and cross sell team