British Gas playing ‘catch up’ on green

Commenting on British Gas’ announcement that it is launching two new green products, Geoff Slaughter, Energy Manager at uSwitch.com, says: “This is welcome news and very timely with green issues topping the agenda. British Gas has been lagging behind other suppliers since it pulled its last green product. Today’s announcement sees Britain’s largest energy supplier getting back-up-to-speed, which is encouraging.

“However, it is disappointing that there is an £84 premium on the dual fuel plan. Our research shows that 39% of consumers would not be prepared to pay any extra for green energy, while 41% would only be prepared to pay up to £50. This premium may act as a deterrent to many households who will not want to pay more to go green and so will not do much to boost consumer uptake of green energy plans, which currently stands at only 1%. Customers may also be discouraged given recent concerns over the accuracy of British Gas’ ‘greenness’ claims made about its last green product.

“On a more positive note though, suppliers have been jostling for the position of ‘greenest supplier’ and this latest announcement is likely to stir things up both among the big six suppliers and the specialist, niche green providers. We can also expect to see further product innovation following the announcement from SSE on its green product to be launched later this year and this will all go some way towards raising consumer awareness of green energy. Now that things are hotting up on the green energy front, Ofgem’s work on agreeing firm definitions of green energy with suppliers will become even more critical if we are really going to see consumers coming on board.”