British Gas reduces prices but still receiving lots of complaints

One of the UK's leading energy providers, British Gas, is currently receiving floods of complaints from customers, despite cutting its unit costs for both gas and electricity twice since March of this year. The energy giant announced plans to cut gas and electricity prices in March this year, and recently announced a further cut, which brought the total cut in pricing levels to a 14% drop in electricity prices and a 23% cut in gas usage prices.

However, although consumers and campaigners are pleased about the price cuts, there is still much concern over the billing structure and the customer service levels offered by British Gas. According to reports the energy giant has lost over one million customers to other energy providers over the past year. Many of the complaints that are flooding in to British Gas relate to billing problems, where estimates are set far higher than they should be, which means that consumers have to pay far higher monthly bills.

In the past six months British Gas has received over twenty thousand complaints according to Energywatch. Customers are angry over the levels at which estimated monthly and quarterly direct debits are being set, and frustrated because they are unable to get through to speak to someone with a true reading of their meter without having to wait on the line for unacceptable lengths of time.

Others are annoyed because although the energy company has cut its prices twice since March the level at which direct debits are set have not been changed, which means that there is no immediate benefits for customers. However, a spokesperson for British Gas stated: 'We review customers' bills and usage four times a year. Generally, the estimation process is fairly accurate.'