In 2022, the energy market faced unprecedented challenges as the war in Ukraine constricted already tight global energy supplies, causing energy costs to soar. With the duration of the energy crisis unknown, rising energy bills have been a real worry for many. We’ve therefore worked with stakeholders to understand what we can do to help, enabling the Directors to take swift action.

To ensure customers can get in touch more easily, we invested £25 million in customer service with the recruitment of 700 additional UK-based agents, who have guided customers through the crisis with expert advice and support.

And on top of the millions of pounds we already provide in energy bill support, the Directors recognised that more needed to be done. So, we committed £50 million to help people with their energy bills, including through our promise to donate 10% of British Gas Energy’s profit for the duration of the crisis. This enabled us to establish the UK’s largest voluntary customer support package. Of this, £25 million was given to the British Gas Energy Trust to create a dedicated cash support fund for customers and help communities. To reach those who needed it most, we collaborated closely with the Trust by running a marketing campaign urging people not to suffer in silence, volunteered at over 100 Post Office Pop-Ups at over 50 locations to share advice at the heart of communities, and collaborated with charities like StepChange, to help more people access support. The remaining £25 million is administered by British Gas and largely supports prepayment customers and businesses with grants.

At the same time, the Directors alongside specialists in Corporate Affairs and Regulatory Affairs, worked at pace with the UK Government and Ofgem. Parliamentarians were engaged to ensure they were up-to-date with the support available via information leaflets, meetings and drop-in sessions. Together, we also worked on short and longer-term improvements to achieve a more robust and sustainable market for consumers. We suspended all prepayment warrant activity until at least the end of Winter. And we increased volumes of renewable energy, reopened our Rough gas storage site, and worked with Norwegian partners to secure gas supplies sufficient to heat 4.5 million homes, which increases greenhouse gas emissions in the short-term but was vital to boost energy security and reduce costs for consumers. Meanwhile, we continued to manage price volatility through agile hedging policies and effective demand forecasting.

As we balance different stakeholder needs and the transition to net zero, we’re doing whatever we can to help people today and avoid another energy crisis in the future.