13/01/2011

British Gas Invests For Vulnerable Customers

British Gas have announced that it is making a new investment of £37 million in support for its vulnerable customers.

Each customer on British Gas' Essentials social tariff will receive £50 as a credit on their winter bill. Prepayment customers will receive the credit direct to their meter. For the small minority of customers, where credit via these routes may not be possible, the customer will receive the payment by cheque. All Essentials customers will receive a letter by the end of February informing them of the £50 credit to follow.

Ian Peters, Managing Director of British Gas Energy, said: "We know that money is very tight for many people in Britain right now, particularly our elderly, poor and disabled customers.

"That's why we promised to hold our Essentials prices throughout the winter - and it's why we're announcing this additional one-off payment to provide extra help following the recent extremely cold weather.

"We are also making a further donation of £20 million to the British Gas Energy Trust, to bring direct financial help to many more people who are having difficulty with their household debts. We expect the majority of this assistance to be distributed in 2011 and 2012."

Tom Wright, Chairman of the British Gas Energy Trust, said: "The Trust welcomes this excellent news and the difference the extra funding will make to the Trust's ability to help even more people."

Help for Essentials customers

The announcement is just the latest support being made available to British Gas' Essentials customers. The Essentials package has a total value of over £900 per customer and includes: lower prices, free energy efficiency measures and free benefits advice to maximise income.

In the past year alone, British Gas has completed 156,000 insulation installations free of charge, worth £62 million to its customers, and took 160,000 calls on its dedicated free phone line for vulnerable customers.

(BMcN)

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