British Gas Essentials tariff ending

john539

Had letter from British Gas that the Essentials tariff is ending end of March and will be moved back to standard tariff.

Checked my latest gas bill which would be £40 higher for last quarter using standard rate.

They are saying government told them to stop this tariff as government has introduced Warm Home Discount Scheme which only applies to electricity which is ridiculous.
.

anguk

I'm on Essentials too and I had a letter from them a couple of months ago saying that I would be automatically transferred over to the Warm Home Discount Scheme in the Spring? I might give them a ring tomorrow just to clarify this.

As I understand it the people who were on the Warm Home Scheme with British Gas this year received £120 to help towards their bill. It's closed for new applicants at the moment but reopens in April, could you register for that?

http://www.britishgas.co.uk/warmhom!!!!!!!!!!cheme

I've checked the difference between essentials and standard for both my gas and electricity and it'll be about £10 a month more expensive if I'm moved to standard. But if they credit my account with £120 each year under the discount scheme (I think it's running for 4 years) that will pay for the difference.

Edit: I don't know why MSE have changed the link?? the bit that's got exclamation marks should be "warmhome discount scheme" (without the spaces)

savemoney

They told me on phone that it was ending but no letter. I was told you can still get the WHDS if you went on other tarrifs. I applied last year and was told I would be on it but when I rang they said I cant and would switch me when essentials ends

john539

The annoying thing is that british gas Essentials tariff is for gas, Warm Home Discount Scheme is only for electricity.

Most people use gas to heat their homes and British Gas is or should be you would think a gas company, so should support its gas product.

It's annoying british gas are scrapping their own gas tariff & going with the government electricity scheme.

Joyful

Anyone on the Essential tariff will not automatically go onto the Warm Home Discount scheme. People will either have had a letter by now or will recieve one in the coming weeks. The letter will ask for the customer to provide information to do an assessment to see if they then meet the criteria for the WHD.

The Essential tariff was available for Gas and Electric and British Gas and the other suppliers have agreed to pay the WHD onto the electric only at the Governments request. Their reasoning is everyone has electric so more people will get it if it is targeted at this. For anyone with Gas heating as they are not puting as much money into the electric if they qualify this will then free up money to add to the gas account.

You can have any tariff now and it will not be affected by claiming the WHD.