Free Energy

Free Energy
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Over the past ten years, we have seen the average electrical bill rise by up to 48% making rising energy costs prime concerns for many families. With other tightening conditions, it comes as no surprise that the announcing of free energy is a game changer. British Gas recently announced that they will be providing free gas to all on weekends. This is a great push that forecasts free energy as the future. According to the company, this switch will save users an average of 60 a year. However, experts have warned that the expected savings could easily get dwarfed by such a switch. So what is British Gas really offering?

The free gas offer

The template for this free energy is that every household will receive one day of free gas every weekend. The free day could either be Saturday or Sunday between 9am and 5pm. According to British Gas UK Home managing director Sarwjit Sambhi, this step will give consumers greater control over their energy consumption using the FreeTime smart meter. This is the first ever smart-meter innovated to allow consumers to know their free times during the weekend. It also contributes to managing the country’s energy demand from the national grid where British Gas severs some 11 million consumers.

How do you get the free energy?

In order to start receiving free energy weekends, you must first install the FreeTime smart meter which is currently owned by less than 5% of the British Gas consumers according to The Telegraph. British Gas said they expect consumers to change their habits and schedules to use more energy during their free time days. However, this would mean ramping up their usage in an attempt to save energy bills.

Deal or trick

There are various critical concerns about the free energy bills. Of course it is a great step and advantage for British Gas clients as they will have one day of free energy every week and can maximize their benefits by taking advantage of this day. However, British Gas rates and tariffs are not the cheapest. In fact, they exceed the cheapest offer in the market b around 250 a year so users could save more by simply switching to other providers says uSwitch.com energy specialist Tom Lyon. Mark Todd of energyhelpline.com says users can get 300 by switching which is way above the 60 they save with FreeTime. In other words, British Gas rates are quite high that getting free 8 hours of energy and paying high rates for the rest of the week do not call for much celebration.

Summary

Following outrages over increasing energy bills and collapse of wholesale prices, there has been a crackdown on the big companies that offer prices that average 300 more expensive (per year). Most consumer groups are urging for switching to leave such companies. It will be interesting to see whether British Gas can take advantage of their newly innovated FreeTime smart meter to offer free gas. Nonetheless, many still consider it a gimmick that do not actually lower gas bills but simply protect the interests of the big gas providers. If other companies follow suite, then we can expect more free gas in the future as the step shows that top providers are not willing to lower their rates just yet.

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Stephanie Williams
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