Energy news in general

The_Green_Hornet

‘Customers prefer AI chatbots,’ says British Gas owner as 1,300 call centre jobs axed

The owner of British Gas has claimed that most households would rather speak with an AI chatbot than deal with the company’s staff as it prepares to cut 1,300 jobs from its call centres.

Centrica, the supplier’s FTSE 100 owner, plans to cut 800 jobs as the company carries out a “targeted deployment of AI tools”, on top of the 500 cuts it confirmed last month.

The plan to reduce the supplier’s customer service teams in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Leicester, Stockport and Leeds by 14% is expected to take place over two years, meaning some roles will be left unfilled after resignations, while the balance will come from redundancies.

Trade unions have previously said the company’s investment in artificial intelligence to help simplify its business would lead to “hundreds of human jobs” being given to chatbots.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/23/customers-prefer-ai-chatbots-says-chris-oshea-british-gas-centrica-boss

WiserMiser

Yet another good reason never to consider British Gas. No wonder they're so low in the ratings.

victor2

I took the MSE negotiated fix with BG just over a year ago, leaving Octopus and figuring I could deal with the expected poor customer service.

To be honest it's been fine. There were problems getting readings from my upgraded SMETS1 smart gas meter, which Octopus had never been able to sort out. BG fixed it by replacing both meters and it's been fine ever since. I've had no trouble setting my DD below what they said it should be, as my calculations disagreed with theirs.

I hate dealing with AI driven systems, so that could drive me away when the fix ends. But with so many services using it these days, it could be out of the frying pan and into the fire, as they say...

QrizB

Customers prefer AI chatbots,’ says British Gas owner

On the other hand, "Customers prefer humans," say customers.

Yet another good reason never to consider British Gas. No wonder they're so low in the ratings.

I agree entirely.

The_Groat_Counter

No one seems to be asking what AI chatbots prefer…

Chrysalis

The only time I have been happy with AI is when it passes me to a customer agent at first time of asking.

debitcardmayhem

Well according to a recent survey 100%* of customers prefer not having to contact their suppliers and prefer the suppliers to get things done right.

*Survey contacted 1 of 29M households

victor2

We need to be asking AI how to fool another AI into giving us a lower rate and/or a refund.

Given that a new AI test system recently escaped its "secure" sandbox and infiltrated another AI in order to answer the question it was given, can't be long before they rule the World...

WiserMiser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82079437#Comment_82079437

Ofgem should require all energy suppliers to have 080 customer service numbers: calling a landline or 03 number from a PAYG mobile can be extremely expensive, e.g. 35p/minute with Three. That may be the only option for the most vulnerable customers.

If they're doing their job properly you should never need to call them, so they wouldn't have any telco bills to pay. This would also encourage them to have sufficient agents available (no more 'We're experiencing very high call volumes' nonsense).

Ildhund

[Fun fact: my supplier has these instructions for contacting support:

I have a PAYG phone, so I assumed I should use the second number and - presumably - not have to pay as much as I would have had to had I used the first.

There was a great deal of misunderstanding during the ensuing conversation, quite hilarious to look back on but not so funny at the time. I now avoid using the telephone unless it's completely unavoidable. Yes, it costs me at least 35p a minute, so that can soon exceed the cost of a postage stamp.