 announced on Wednesday plans to invest up to £100 million in reduced bills and Sky){kind=link}
Britain’s largest energy supplier British Gas (LON:CNA) announced on Wednesday plans to invest up to £100 million in reduced bills and Sky (LON:SKY) TV packages as part of a new customer reward programme.
Since energy costs have doubled in the past decade, energy firms are feeling an increased pressure to keep bills down whilst improving customer service.
The energy provider said highlights will include a collaboration with Sky, loyalty deals for dedicated customers, a tariff bundled with connected home technologies such as Hive and other new tariff bundles, including one with insurance for tenants.
The scheme, which will launch in April 2017, will be offered to millions of customers according to a memo sent to staff.
Sarwjit Sambhi, British Gas managing director of UK Home, said: “We will be giving existing customers strong reasons to stay with us… This reinforces our commitment to listen to our customers and respond to their changing needs.”
British Gas hopes this new scheme will appease the government and holds on to existing customers.
“The rewards programme we’re unveiling today is about offering customers more than just energy,” Mark Hodges, chief executive of Centrica consumer said in a statement.
The proposed investment into the loyalty scheme has been described as yet another “complex tariff”, which the energy regulator Ofgem has said it wants to see the end of. The competition watchdog, however did say that the move was stifling competition.
In December, the business minister Greg Clark said customers on the most expensive tariffs would be the most vulnerable.
“It seems to me that they should not be penalised for what they might see as loyalty to a company that has a blue-chip, and a good corporate reputation.”
British Gas insists that its current standard variable tariff is cheaper than other the other major energy suppliers and the difference between its tariff and the cheapest deal is among the lowest.