“Ask British Gas” descends into chaos
After announcing a price hike this morning, British Gas have opted to host a Twitter Q&A session about the 9.2 per cent bill rise. It's shaping up to be one of the social media mistakes of the year.
We're here with Customer Services Director, Bert Pijls, who will be answering your questions until 2pm. Tweet your questions using #AskBG
— British Gas (@BritishGas) October 17, 2013
Most of the public responses on #AskBG are pretty aggressive – so we won't be republishing them (but feel free to check for yourself). It's the second high profile price rise since rival SSE said their bills would be rising by 8.2 per cent.
We'll update British Gas' Q&A responses below as they come through, but we don't expect them to reply to the (high volumes) of incredibly negative feedback they're getting.
.@ClwbCardiff We have tried to hold our prices for as long as possible but factors such as rising wholesale prices have forced our prices up
— British Gas (@BritishGas) October 17, 2013
@ClwbCardiff every £1 a customer pays us, we make 5p profit. see how we use profit to secure Britain's energy future http://t.co/wyTA1zsHNa
— British Gas (@BritishGas) October 17, 2013
@SqueekyMango If you are worried about someone who is struggling to heat their home, tell them to call us on 08009801917 #AskBG
— British Gas (@BritishGas) October 17, 2013
@spritesbites With Warm Home Discount, cust can get £135 off their bills & this year we will give the most vulnerable an extra £60 #AskBG
— British Gas (@BritishGas) October 17, 2013
@SciShooterMatt Wholesale prices increase over the winter months and today's increase is driven by external costs #AskBG
— British Gas (@BritishGas) October 17, 2013
@TrickyTredder Our costs are increasing far above inflation. Wholesale by 7%, pipes & wires by 7%, enviro & social progs by 38% #AskBG
— British Gas (@BritishGas) October 17, 2013
@irs_uk We spread our energy costs over the year to protect our customers from extreme spikes in prices e.g. after Fukushima #AskBG
— British Gas (@BritishGas) October 17, 2013