Billing errors cost British Gas Business £9.5m

British Gas Business (BGB) has agreed to pay a penalty of £9.5m to its customers and the Money Advice Trust in compensation for issues surrounding its billing process.

BGB reported the issues concerning its billing system to Ofgem in 2014. The issues saw businesses across the UK receiving inaccurate and late bills following the implementation of BGB’s new billing system. Some businesses did not receive bills for up to 18 months.

The problems arose after a £40m IT investment by BGB, which aimed to combine more than 100 old systems, “didn’t go as smoothly as we would have liked” said managing director of British Gas Business Gab Barbaro.

Since the report was submitted, BGB has worked with Ofgem to help restore “a very good quality of customer service”, Barbaro added.

After resolving the issue, customer complaints fell by almost a third in 2016 and BGB have promoted more customers to use the new online billing system. Additionally, the business supplier achieved a 30-point NPS increase in customer satisfaction.

Many BGB customers sought advice regarding late bills and poorly handled complaints from Citizen’s Advice.

Citizens Advice chief executive, Gillian Guy, said: “It is good that British Gas Business reported its problems to the regulator and has worked to correct them. Energy firms need to plan ahead to minimise the impact of introducing a new billing system on their customers.”

This news follows the launch of a new league table from Citizens Advice which ranks business energy suppliers on their effectiveness in complaints handling.