Centrica : 05 Oct 2020 Introducing British Gas Evolve

05 October 2020 Introducing British Gas Evolve

By Peter Simon
Managing Director, New Energy Platforms

Our new offering for low-cost, digital-first, reliable and hassle-free residential energy supply

Establishing a low-cost, digital-first, hassle-free way to supply energy to consumers and small businesses in the UK has been a journey of discovery over the past few years.

We've seen many new players enter the highly competitive UK energy market, some with success and some proving less resilient - our challenge now is to leap-frog the competition.

In response, we have established a new team to take what we see has worked from these successful disrupter brands, and apply our significant experience in the energy market, to evolve a new business that will win back customers and help Centrica grow.

Our ambition is to be not just the largest but also a growing energy supplier in the UK for residential customers and small businesses - providing an effortless reliable, low-cost, sustainable service that attracts and retains customers for the long term.

Within our current trials (using the most advanced technology support from partners like Amazon and Salesforce and piloting with billing industry-specialists, Ensek), we supply around 60,000 businesses through BG Lite, and 17,000 residential customers through BGX. Over 1,000 UK of our UK colleagues have also been trying it out through our employee offer tariff and providing great feedback to help us improve.

Today we have launched British Gas Evolve, to offer something new to residential customers. The new name represents our brand and business ambitions. We will launch to a limited number of customers for now with a wider launch planned later in the year with ambitious plans for the future.

I am excited by the opportunities it brings for us to gain new customers, as well as retain our current customers. Sustainability, now and for the future, is core to our business, and we are striving to ensure our energy supply brands play an integral part in helping our business and our customers reduce their emissions for a zero-carbon future. British Gas Evolve will start by offering 100% renewable electricity and create other innovations that can help customers reduce their usage and carbon - whether this is with electric vehicle offers or home energy management tools (such as time of use tariffs, or pricing that moves with supply and demand). We will be exploring the role British Gas Evolve can play in sustainability and how it can appeal to customers who might not always think of British Gas as the first place for these innovations. We will also partner with other businesses to deliver these opportunities and find new ways to engage with our customers.

My hope is that our customers will see British Gas Evolve as a solution that is forward thinking, providing products and services they need now and in the future.