Vieta il polpo di assumere nuovi clienti, afferma British Gas
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/24/ban-octopus-from-taking-on-new-customers-says-british-gas/
di Captaincadet
Vieta il polpo di assumere nuovi clienti, afferma British Gas
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/24/ban-octopus-from-taking-on-new-customers-says-british-gas/
di Captaincadet
44 commenti
Can I just say, to start a new company in 2017 and be beating British Gas by 2025 is a STAGGERING achievement for a company.
“Hey government? Can you ban our competition pls? we’re losing”
> Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of Centrica, claimed new financial resiliency requirements were not being properly enforced as he accused the regulator Ofgem of “criminal” double standards.
He said suppliers who were not meeting the new capital rules already should be prevented from accepting new customers until they do so amid fears they may pose a “systemic risk”. This would include Octopus, which overtook British Gas to become the UK’s biggest supplier of gas and electricity in January.
Mr O’Shea insisted his comments were not “sour grapes”, but about ensuring regulatory rules were “fair and evenly applied”.
Maybe if the traditional energy companies actually had a decent mobile app, actual customer support and some competence, I don’t think people would be flocking as quickly to another energy company
It took OVO 9 months, 12 appointments and 8 gas meters to get my gas meter working… to then find the issue was with the electric meter… and every agent I spoke to would not accept that their previous colleagues had tried what they were about to try and the engineers were getting frustrated they knew what the problem was, but OVO would not authorise it
British Gas are an awful company to deal with. Happy to see it die.
Maybe BG would be in a better place if they stop employing cowboys and actually fix things properly instead of shitty fixes.Binned them years and am all for the better.Also their Homecare is absolute robbery.
I had so much trouble with British Gas when I moved to my new flat with the previous owners being on their tariff and not breaking it off correctly. Funnily enough I am with Octopus and they said they’ve had so many issues with BG as they keep losing customers to them they are being obfuscatory on purpose. British Gas are arseholes.
There’s plenty wrong with the concept of privatised essential utilities (see any discussion on water or rail industries), but this isn’t it.
For Ofgem I suppose, I suppose by what metric are Octopus £1bn behind the capital requirements, as no one is disputing they are? Is it the ‘floor’ specified in the article or the £115 per customer which is the aspirational goal?
I managed to ride out the energy crisis right after Covid thanks to Octopus and their Tracker Tariff without having to pay the inflated prices from other providers. It’s by far the best provider I’ve had. Still with them on the same tariff.
I was with British Gas. They offered a fixed rate then within 3 weeks raised my price well above that fixed rate…so maybe instead of banning other companies they should focus on not being complete bastards.
Worked for BG/SG years ago, their corporate culture was horrid and the office software was a fucking disaster 20-ish years ago, and I can guarantee it hasn’t improved much.
Ah British Gas, the company that neglected to tell me they’d changed the account number into which my bills were paid and then sent debt collectors after me. And when it was eventually sorted, sent me a cheque for the amount of my last bill because it was apparently too difficult to transfer it from the old account to the new account *that they unilaterally set up* so I’d have to pay in the cheque and then pay the bill again with the money. And they wonder why people are going to competitors.
> The third energy company not meeting the rules has not been publicly confirmed.
Now taking bets on the 3rd company being British Gas.
From my personal experience their billing systems are so screwed up they probably don’t actually know what they’re actually owed by their customers.
British Gas can do one. If there wasn’t so much incompetence and greed in the company they’d be competing with Octopus. It’s a free market, and they’re asking for it not to be.
Why? So British ass can have a monopoly? No thanks lmao
We switched from British Gas to octopus. Fuck British Gas. Not only did they mess up the transfer no less that 3 times, the cheeky bastards send us a monthly cheque for £2 to make up for the £60 credit they still owe.
On top of that, we keep getting a “sorry you’re leaving us” email from octopus because British Gas keep trying to transfer us back without authorisation. The company should burn
I inherited a house with energy supplied by BG. There was no contract in place. Left things for a few months and then discovered there was a contract in place. Rang to ask why. I was told I agreed to it. Asked to see my signature. Was told it was a verbal agreement. Asked to hear the recording. Was told that it had been destroyed after a few months. Asked for the telephone number used as I was living outside the UK at the time. It was not available.
Minimum wage employees incentivised to get people onto contracts lie and cheat to meet a target and get a bonus.
Waited till the end of the contract and left. Would never go back, even if they were cheaper.
I blame scum management not the minimum wage employees.
British gas absolutely fucked me over due to a crossed meter.
Took *months* to resolve.
Fuck em.
Octopus have been great – smart meter though I’d like to question
British Gas have been nothing but expensive and the bain of my life. They’re a terrible company in my experience, and would never recommend them to anyone. Well done Octopus.
“Referee, tell the other team they can’t score any more goals, it isn’t fair”
I was with octopus for several years and had no issues at all, but recently fixed with edf for 12months as it was £30pm cheaper than lowest octpus offered. I would have no hesitation using them in the future
Octopus are great, have saved a fortune on gas with their tracker tariff. It’s 4.73p today, price cap is 6.33. Not that we use much gas in summer but shows the difference.
Such sour grapes from British Gas who have been fleecing & profiteering off their customers for years and doing the bare minimum.
Chris O’Shea could do well to look at how Greg Jackson does things, rather than being a grumpy prick every time I’ve seen him on the TV.
Octopus has shaken up the market by doing what British Gas never did – putting the customer first. Enabling API access to the platform, doing proper real time data in their app, even bringing things such as the Octopus Mini to the market for free – and British Gas don’t have anything like Agile – which whilst I don’t use it (I’m on Octopus Go) – the option is awesome.
When I was with British Gas, I had an issue with my smart meter. I got through to someone in Bangalore who couldn’t understand technically what I needed them to do. They were utterly useless and it took months to solve the problem.
Eventually I just moved to Octopus (especially when I got an EV). They have been excellent – I had another issue with my meter not calling home, they fixed it in a couple of weeks – eventually sending round an octopus engineer – but I would get daily updates from the person owning my case and never felt like I wasn’t treated like a valued customer.
BG is a horrendous company to deal with on any level. Their contact centre staff are either incompetent, or actively employed to be evasive and economical with the truth. I’ve taken them to the ombudsman twice and won! Never again.
I can only recommend octopus. Why? Their customer service is brilliant.
Sure it’s a little different to other companies but shit just gets done. Maybe not right away but they went through hoops to fix my smart meter and bill issues.
10/10
I work in the property sector so have to deal with a lot of utility companies, British gas are by far the worst and wouldn’t have any customers if it wasn’t for the legacy brand.
Every problem I’ve had since joining Octopus in 2019 has been solved slalmost same day by their support, which is a stark contrast to British Gas who despite me providing proof (my mother’s death certificate) still wouldn’t close her account and kept charging it long after I had moved out of the flat we were in.
Octopus have shaken the industry, and should be applauded – but by not meeting the financial criteria rules they are at an advantage against their competitors who have made efforts to meet the rules.
Hang the fuck on, didn’t Octopus take on Bulb customers after Bulb collapsed to ensure continuity of supply to the vulnerable customers? Octopus should be given leeway for stepping up during COVID of all times.
I’ve had nothing but a good experience with Octopus. Good customer service, nice app. Reasonable prices.
I have done business with two of Centrica’s companies. They were both awful, total dinosaurs who only seemed to care about how much money they could separate me from, not about me as a customer. This interview feels like them finally admitting they don’t want to or can’t improve so they want the government to stop their competitor. It feels like they are stuck in the past and just lack the vision needed to be a modern company.
They seem to be dishonestly trading on the feeling that they’re the traditional, national supplier of gas, by keeping the name. The thing is, they’re not. They’re a private company and, when they bough GB, it ceased to be that.
How can a company demand a rival that is doing way better than them be banned from new customers. 🤣
Maybe instead of complaining, they should learn to compete. If Octopus are getting that many customers, it shows they’re doing things right. Maybe they should take a hint.
British Gas should be looking at themselves rather than their competitors.
There’s a reason customers are leaving in droves to Octopus.
British Gas treat their customers like criminals, there is absolutely no humanity in them and their “customer care” is little more than agents of intimidation or completely incompetent, even when they are taken to task by the Ombudsman.
Switched to Octopus from British Gas over a year ago. Due to a faulty meter BG installed, we were charged close to £3k for gas and electric we never used. It took over year, almost 40 phone calls and a complaint to the Ombudsman to get them to refund me. Each phone call took around 30 mins average to get through to someone. I was always promised a call back from a manager/complaints team and never got one. Useless company, hope they fail
why are british gas bitching is capitalism not working for them wtf british gas ain’t even british they should just rename themself non british gas
Octopus – not only has a great product, great software, great deals and really decent customer service, but also bailed out other failing energy companies saving bill payers a lot of money.
Meanwhile, British Gas has failed to innovate in years and has a horrendous customer experience…
Octopus gave me an export tariff for my solar panels while Britsh Gas refused because I didn’t have a certain certificate for it. With switching being so easy I’d be daft to stay, British gas rang to ask why I was leaving and when I explained that they won’t offer me a service that someone else will the guy on the phone basically said ‘fair enough’
British Gas has got to be in the running for the worst company in the UK. I have never had such a consistently awful experience with a company like I have with BG. Total incompetence and they’re getting what they deserve
They should cut to the chase, do the country a favour, close down and give all of their customers to Octopus because that’s what’s going to happen over time anyway
I just looked at my octopus app, and was supprised to see 7kw being pulled in from the grid.
Turns out that the grids currently chugging along at 75g co2/kwh so is very clean.
Octopus told my zappi car charger to start charging my ev right now. (at 7p/kwh).
How’s British Gas doing?
British gas are genuinely the worst company in the UK. Absolute chancers and con artists the lot of them.
BG are just reaping what they’ve sowed, it’s brilliant that Octopus have kicked them off their perch.
After years of ripping people off, incorrectly sending debt collectors and taking people to court, all while paying out huge dividends to their shareholders. Then this dickhead decides he now wants the rules to be applied fairly, cry me a river!
Since I’ve got put onto octopus i keep getting free electricity, greggs hot drinks and ice drinks.
They gave me a couple electric blankets and a few hundred off my bills every year.
>On Thursday, Octopus said it was not in breach of Ofgem’s cash rules. A spokesman said: “This is yet more naked self-interest from British Gas. They would do well to obsess about their customers rather than their rivals
Get ‘em Octy