Energy efficiency

The UK Government's long-term goal is to reduce the country’s carbon emissions by 60% by around 2050, with significant progress by 2020. British Gas plays a leading role in helping to achieve these challenging targets. We work with a range of commercial partners, voluntary organisations, charities and the public sector to deliver energy efficiency initiatives, and the effectiveness of these partnerships is a key factor in our success.

Under the UK Government’s Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC), electricity and gas suppliers are required to achieve energy-saving targets by promoting improvements in domestic energy efficiency. Half of the energy savings have to be targeted at the ‘priority group’ – households receiving income-related benefits or tax credits. EEC has an environmental aim, providing carbon savings to tackle climate change, as well as a focus on alleviating fuel poverty.

British Gas domestic customers

In 2005 British Gas subsidised more than nine million energy efficiency measures, such as cavity wall insulation and low energy light bulbs, with an equivalent lifetime carbon saving of 1.3 million tonnes, benefiting more than 1.1 million households.

Energy efficiency programmes