Ah i was not aware that was against the terms of service so i do apologise, it was a game about oil which i did find quite amusing, if there is a way of just removing that link and leaving the rest of the post that would be fine as it was not anything to do with what i was talking about

^-^

Moderator - No problem already removed, hence the moderation notes in your first post.

Gas_girl

To avoid confusion and set matters straight, the link you posted was to a arcade gaming website for some strange reason, perhaps a mistake.? This contravened the terms of service and that was the sole reason for moderation and subsequent removal, not because you were trying to sell anything as has been suggested.

Hope that puts your mind at rest.

Wow, that is a little bit insane that i am apparently selling British Gas when i am not like... signing people up.

I am only here to help as it is in my nature to do this and telling people straight off what they need to do is hardly selling anything esp if they are already a BG customer!

Either way if they wish to remove posts as i am being too positive and being seen as selling the company when i am only telling facts then fine. This is why the media perception of all energy companies is skewed.

Keep going!! The moderators will edit or remove posts as you found yesterday, if they believe you are selling BG, rather than giving general advice.

Why don't you mention to your bosses that other energy providers do have staff that deal with online forums. Malcolm from EON is a regular contributer to helping people that are having a problem with EON. Also I have seen posts from EDF and Scottish and Southern, trying to help their clients.

This is all about giving the consumer information, so they can find the deal that best suits them or resolve an issue which may be troubling them.

Huckster

I do plan on giving completely honest advice while i am here. This post was just one where i felt the need to bring some things to light that I personally do not feel are being appreciated. End of the day I just want to resolve problems as much as I can, obviously i cant access peoples personal accounts but i know generally what will need to be done in all situations as i have worked both with the billing dep and prepayment. It is my personal choice to be doing this, in my own time. No one else in BG was doing it which I do find slightly strange.. then again im probably coming across as being quite strange right now anyway.

I do generally have a very positive attitude which i do get sick of myself sometimes but if it is a case where i cannot help i will advise that as well and that it may not be a fixable problem.

^-^

I think perhaps you've missed my point, i'll assume that's due to my unique approach to making them at times. What I was hoping would be clear is that i'm suire you're able to help consumers on these forumns without being so "pro-bg".

For example, Jalexa, CMK, Basa to name but a few manage to provide great advice - without advertising the organisations they work for.

Lol ^-^ It's again not a case that i am promoting things but so many people out there tell me when i am speaking to them every single day that they did not know what British Gas do. I want to tell people what we do as I believe personally that everyone just thinks we are all money grabbers.

Scot power have released an electricity home top up but they are charging about £30 for it if i remember rightly.

And yes all competitors allow you to speak to a meter operator but what i meant about what i said was that we deal with any enquiry at that time, people moving home, consumption queries etc. And to have a group that were still doing this when the billing offices were closed due to the weather issues i think has to be appreciated.

End of the day i respect your opinion of why i am here but it is not true. I better get back to taking calls now, my lunch is finished :(

It's not sceptism, I'll freely admit BGAS are doing many if not all the things you report.. I only point out that so do every other provider.

With regards to PPM customer's there is a facility for every PPM customer to speak to someone regarding their metering, the only difference with BGAs is that's its done in-house the other providers using the services of the local meter operator, a different perhaps but not one as great as you claim.

Granted as of this very second no other provider has "released" a home top up mechanism but watch this space. EDf are working on a release and I beleive scottish power also registered an interest and were working on something. (details are sketchy on this point as i'm working from memory from something I read once several months ago, so might well be inaccurate).

Yup BGAS have been the first to reduce prices, it's called clever marketing. You'll also notice all subsequent suppliers dropped their prices in excess of BGAS's reductions, menaing BGAS can again reduce it's prices. You've captured that marketing spirit alread. Now BGAS's spin doctors can claim to be the first to drop their prices, and the first to drop them twice in a short space of time, as they did last year. Its nothing more than a PR angle, a clever one at first now its yesterday's news.

Sorry to burst your bubble regarding PPM and credit meter equality, E.ON beat you to that on the last round of price cuts - on this point you're doing nothing more than following the competition.

I've got nothing wrong with improvements, especially when it so clearly benefits the consumer. The points I do have issues with are people using this forumn to so blazenly promote their organisation, or are so blinded by company propaganda that they can't see the truth for the spiel.

I did have a giggle at the last part of your last sentance : "with little knowledge what is happening"

Newt, I understand your sceptism about the company in general because a lot of people do feel that way. I do not plan on even revealing to my boss' that i am doing this because i am not here for the money purpose, i just like to help people out. It is not PR at all if i am telling customers of British Gas of things they might not know about.

I would like to correct you though as there are 3 things I know for a fact no other company can claim: No other company allows prepayment customers access to talk to a member of staff any time of the day or night, even on xmas, new year

No other company has invested in a home topup product for gas and electric that has been released. And is actually also free of charge, the other groups who have release them (only for one fuel) are charging customers for this

And the fact that now two years in a row BG has been the first to reduce prices shows that we are the ones leading the way and the others are then doing it to save losing a customer base.

I now have actually thought of a fourth which im pretty certain of but does need checking out. We are the only group who is charging the same for prepayment customers as billing. Yes my facts are mostly pp related as thats the sector i work in but i still think we are making massive improvements with little knowledge what is happening.

Firstly, Hi and welcome to the forumns..

Secondly now might be a good time to ask your bosses for a raise - after all you're doing a great job at PR, marketing etc. Although nothing you've mentioned in your post is unique to BG, infact a quick 5 minutes on google will bring up numerous examples of other suppliers doing the excact same thing - so sorry to burst your delicate little bubble.

Hi Guys,

I work in British Gas and i am fairly new to this forum (please be nice!)

I was at work today and obviously the decrease did come as a huge shock to me but the negative comments are what i always expect to hear. I do have a few points i think that need to be advised..

First is that the Tier 1 prices of gas did go down. Second, it is still freezing outside and Scotland saw snow yesterday and is forcast for more. It has also been overlooked that although the prices have gone down on average by 7% prepayment gas customers face a 9% reduction meaning that the difference between PP and Standard has no difference now. Which i think you all have to admit is a huge improvement.

British Gas are working toward a new future, we are planning on smart meters and have already started trialing 60,000. As for other technologies we now have online top up for both gas and electricity prepayment customers (no other company has one for both). Renewables is my favourite field and I would also love to advise there are plans to help customers who are wishing to start generating energy in their own homes. They are also doing generation green in primary schools to help teach children how to make homes energy efficient which is helping a whole new generation to understand the importance of Energy in everyones lives.

If you had watched Mr Bentley (or P. Benny as my collegues like to call him) on the BBC this morning alongside Mark Todd from energywatch you would understand that even Energywatch know what issues all companies are facing in regards to gas prices. The problem at the end of the day is that gas is not renewable really... we all have to accept in my mind that by the time I am classed as retired i would have to be a millionaire (possibly) to by gas. I also believe that the future of energy as i wrote before is within renewables and within being energy efficient. I believe every landlord should be held responsible for keeping the home they are renting at at least band C or higher, including all council homes. *This is my opinion not that of British Gas or any of its associates*

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8497460.stm

I hope to help alot of people in this forum out as much as I can during my own spare time.

Note: This post has been moderated. Please ensure you read the moneysupermarket.com Content & Community Standards before posting. Thanks.

Improving insulation is just one small step to helping the situation, albeit one that almost immediately pays some form of divdend. As I eluded to earlier, for all those that are able, moving to home generation is the best step. Unfortunately it is expensive but there are numerous grants available to help subsidise the costs, and most forecasts preduct a return on investment within 5 years (so less with subsidy), due to FITs (Feed In Tarriffs), where you are paid for generating energy at the home regardless and paid again if you then sell this energy back to your supplier.

Landlords seem to be a rule unto themselves and I completely agree something should be in place to encourage landlords to take similar steps. Unfortunately and especially in light of the news reports last night, whatever is in place at the moment is shockling poor and ineffective, and I hope these are tackled when the government gets around to energy efficiency in the commercial and industrial sectors.

Graeme Delap:

Another good reason to look at switching to a cheaper online tariff, but a blow to customers who have switched to a fixed tariff in recent months in an attempt to protect themselves from the price hikes.

I would advise anybody, and especially anybody with uncertain finances, to seriously consider fixing for peace of mind over the winter season. That's what I did so I'm not getting excited by this particular decrease now. Neither do I consider it a blow not being able to switch immediately. June/July will be fine by which time there should be a new level playing field.

Looking forward, yes energy prices are going to be a real problem. All the more reason to seriously improve home insulation. Unfortunately I can't see the incentive for landlords to improve the rental market housing stock unless the Government starts seriously penalising them for poor insulation standards.

omegustamucho:

First of keyword you missed form the BGAS price reduction UPTO, i'll leave you to put that where it belongs in this sentance:

omegustamucho:They cut the "standard" tariff by 7%

Online Tarriffs ARE NOT standard tarriffs. Standard tarriffs are the basic no frills oens youg et when setting up an account and not having any further discussion with your provider.

The reason you have had a price decrease I would imagine is that their online prices are loosely linked to their standard prices, and if memory serves previously they had already decreased their online tarriffs, so perhaps are just returning them to an equal level, the extra acrrued discounts notwithstanding.

If there's a reduction to either tiers of a product it will have the effect of reducing a consumer's overall bill. INFACT a reduction in tier two prices will have in general terms a larger efect than a reduction in tier one prices. Why you may ask?

Bgas have a tier1 threshold of 500 units (i think) this means the first 500 unit sof energy will be charged at the tier1 rate everything esle at the tier2 rate. Considering average consumption is 3500 units per year, which would you rather, a 7% reduction of 500 units or 7% on 3000 units? I know where my money is.

Moving on in all BGAS's publications the cost savings have been based on the model of an average consumer (3500units elec and 20500 units gas) a winter bill for £165 means you are a low user not an average consumer so you will see a reduced impact of the price changes.

And yes on the final point we agree, it's not the first time british gas have reduced prices.

In theory, prices should continue to come down over the next year. Why? Well, for the past year the energy providers have argued that despite the massive drop in wholesale prices they can't drop their prices to us because the gas they have on tap was purchased long before when the wholesale price was higher. They therefore argue that there must be a time lag before any price reductions feed through to us (and isn't it funny how any price drops only occur after winter...). If their logic is to be believed then all the cheap gas that they have purchased wholesale over the past year should mean further price drops for us over the next year regardless of whether the wholesale price goes up this year because there has to be a time lag right?

Of course we all know that in reality they will pass on any wholesale price rises to us immediately. The energy providers operate a quite transparent cartel and their behaviour is akin to those banks who think it apt to increase their mortgage rates to 5% or more even though the base rate is 0.5%. It's called skimming off the top and making yourself a guaranteed profit. As consumers all we can do is play along and move to the cheapest deal available.