British Gas Reviews: Give your feedback

Colsa100

I have been on British Gas's standard tariff for years. Some years back they sent someone around to install a smart meter. It used up energy for a while and for about a year now I have left it unplugged as it does no good in the utility room. Whatever the meter they installed must be doing all the hard work.
For many a year, paying via DD, the bills did not go up much and then, with a hop, skip and a jump, they have skyrocketed. Having seen how much of my money goes towards paying just for the electricity you end up asking yourself "How rich does the MD and shareholders of BG wish to be and how poor do they wish me and their other customers to be?"
I joined MSE Cheap Energy Club some years ago but never got around to it. So, today, with the kids away and some time on my hands, I took the bull by the horns and switched to one of the suppliers recommended from the club.
Here is hoping it all goes well.

victor2

Colsa100 said:

I have been on British Gas's standard tariff for years. Some years back they sent someone around to install a smart meter. It used up energy for a while and for about a year now I have left it unplugged as it does no good in the utility room. Whatever the meter they installed must be doing all the hard work.
For many a year, paying via DD, the bills did not go up much and then, with a hop, skip and a jump, they have skyrocketed. Having seen how much of my money goes towards paying just for the electricity you end up asking yourself "How rich does the MD and shareholders of BG wish to be and how poor do they wish me and their other customers to be?"
I joined MSE Cheap Energy Club some years ago but never got around to it. So, today, with the kids away and some time on my hands, I took the bull by the horns and switched to one of the suppliers recommended from the club.
Here is hoping it all goes well.

Do bear in mind that you will have to manually read your meters yourself to get accurate billing now you are leaving BG. It is extremely unlikely that your smart meters installed "some years back" will be of the type that are still smart once you have switched.

The bit you unplugged in your utility room is the In House Display (IHD) and not the smart meter itself. The power supply for that is rated at 5V output, 0.25A, so would use less than 11kWh per year even if it used the maximum the supply is rated at, which it most likely won't. Not a significant cost, but IME BG disable the IHD remotely when a customer leaves them, so it will be useless anyway.

Good for you that you have switched though. Just about anything will be cheaper than the BG standard tariff!

amdunn

I chose British Gas X as Martin Lewis said it was one of the best deals currently on offer.  I completed the switch through the Cheap Energy Club and a week later an e-mail was received from British Gas X advising that my meters were not compatible with this tariff and the switch request has been cancelled.
Why is the meter not compatible?  I was previously a British Gas customer a few years ago with my current meter. The meter is electronic but not a smart meter. This is a simple tariff that charges the same unit cost 24 hours a day, i.e. NOT Economy 7
It is not possible to contact British Gas during the Covid-19 pandemic, their switching office is closed according to the pre-recorded announcements.

Gizasmum

If memory serves me right, the tariff terms & conditions specifically state that it can only be provided to those who already have or agree to have smart meters installed within 3 months. The tariff needs the smart meters so that they can upload half-hourly readings. A simple electronic meter can't do that. Since you don't have smart meters at present, and Covid-19 is preventing them from arranging any new installs meantime, they therefore can't offer you a tariff that is dependent on this requirement. 

RL11

I'm just switching to British Gas X. The T&C's just say they can't switch if a prepayment meter. No need to have a smart meter either, providing you send the readings yourself:
"Eligibility To be eligible for this tariff you agree to manage your account online and pay us by Direct Debit. This tariff is not available to customers who already have an energy tariff with British Gas, have prepayment meters or smart meters in prepayment mode. If you ask to switch to this tariff, we’ll carry out some checks and you won’t be able to switch to this tariff if you are not eligible or your meter is not compatible. You’ll need to switch your energy tariff for both gas and electricity to this tariff."

RL11

I'm just switching to BG from Octopus. Never had an issue with Octopus, just British Gas X Online Only Green v3 is the best deal for my usage right now. I have switched dozens of times between dozens of providers and never had an issue with any of them. This will be the 4th time I've gone with British Gas. I use them for their boiler and home appliance cover too. Apart from a couple of mix ups with booking an annual service they have been great. I felt I had to post something to say I have only had good experiences with BG after flicking back a few pages on this forum and seeing nothing but very negative comments. Hopefully I haven't jinxed my latest switch! I don't work for them either!!

mjjordan

Is there any reason why these forums can't appear with most recent posts first ibstead of having to go to page ******* to get what was most recently written? Please help people who are frustated and frazzled at some silly hour of the morning just trying to find out if the next proposed utility company are any b. good !

Talldave

The forum software takes you to the most recent post on a thread that you haven't read. Sadly,  because the software was recently changed you will be taken to page 1 on first clicking on a thread.  But click on the highest page number to get to the end of the thread, then next time you visit you'll get taken straight to the newest posts.

kloughlin

Applied to switch to British Gas X, via Cheap Energy Club link, on 17th April and switch went through without any issues by 11th May 2020.  I do not have any smart meters and feel that others comments about issues to switch is probably linked to their "series 1" type meters - now looking forward to savings over the next year!!  I note that British Gas X is only available via switching sites with a limited number of sign-ups and is not showing on the Cheap Energy Club site anymore.  I feel this supplier may have already closed their door??

RL11

Applied 16th April. Completed switch 8th May. Had an issue with my gas reading not showing online, even though I had given Gas and Electric - Electric did show. GasX uses a chat link as the means of contact. Went through that and they confirmed they had my reading. They tweaked something and then it showed against my account. No issues other than that