After its £1m fine for failing to provide accurate information on the amount of electricity supplied from renewable sources, it’s nice of British Gas spend some of its £740m profits on full page newspaper ads telling us how they can help lower our energy bills. The adverts come after they announced a price hike which will cost the average dual fuel energy customer an extra £190 a year. Whilst energy conservation measures are a good thing, British Gas, and the others energy companies who are offering free loft and cavity insulation, or giving away low energy light bulbs are doing so to help them avoid a fine and meet their obligations under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT). Would they be offering free insulation or giving away energy monitors without being required to? I think not.
Also the EnergySmart service British Gas promotes will only help people who have internet access and it also relies on a change in behaviour to make savings through the use of an energy meter. You might be mislead by the title; it is not offering a Smart Meter (allowing usage to be accurately read) and passing on the savings of meter readings to the customer, as the National Audit Office is calling for, but is offering an energy monitor and relying on the user to do the work.
