Feeling the heat British Gas hit by 400,000 complaints

It has been both astonishing and appalling in equal measure," says Jonathan Hattersley, 66, from Cambridgeshire.

- Jillian Ambrose

It has been both astonishing and appalling in equal measure," says Jonathan Hattersley, 66, from Cambridgeshire. He is one of thousands of British Gas customers left frustrated by Britain's biggest energy supplier.

The company helped its parent company, Centrica, to a profit of £1bn for the first half of the year. But while the FTSE 100 company handed out millions of pounds in dividends, Hattersley lodged one of the 400,000 complaints British Gas received in 2024, on top of the 1m it recorded the year before.

Hattersley inherited the supplier after moving into a small rented flat in Ramsey in late 2023. But months after attempting to set up an account, he had yet to receive a bill.

"Being an honest chap, I contacted them and got a whacking great bill, including from a period when I did not live here," he said. He was presented with a £1,341.83 energy bill covering a little over seven months in his one-bedroom flat, around double the normal amount for such a property. The supplier's customer service staff insisted it was correct, Hattersley said.

"There are many emails I have going back and forth, with astonishing claims of my energy usage in my tiny flat."

After exchanging about 40 emails with British Gas employees, he was unable to establish the basis for his inflated bill and planned to take the matter to the energy ombudsman.