British Gas has turned a consumer and political backlash over a 10% increase in energy bills into a public relations disaster after trying to head off criticism of the price hike by using social media.
Nearly 16,000 Twitter comments – most of them vitriolic – rained down on Britain's biggest power provider in a few hours after it invited questions from customers. One online expert described the company's attempt to ease public anger over the new tariffs as one of the biggest PR own goals he had ever seen.
The energy price increases – three times the level of inflation – will affect 16 million customers and came in for particular condemnation because the parent group, Centrica, had pledged earlier in the year to use windfall profits from last winter to keep prices down.
David Cameron, who appointed the company's £4m-a-year boss Sam Laidlaw to his business advisory group in 2010, said the rise was very disappointing and urged customers to switch providers. Ed Davey, the energy secretary, said some of British Gas's numbers "just don't add up".
But there were more venomous comments, spliced with the darkest humour, after the energy supplier invited users of Twitter to raise questions with its customer services director.
"My Nan's just been on the phone (no twitter) Should she burn the garden table or the chairs first to keep warm?" wrote one Twitter user. "Have you started an affiliate scheme with a funeral directors?" said another with reference to the number of elderly people who die in cold winters.
The hashtag "AskBG" was the top trend on UK Twitter within an hour of British Gas launching its chat; scores of tweets contained the words "greed" and "death".
Ian Peters, managing director of British Gas Residential Energy, defended his decision to use social media to engage with customers and the wider decision to raise bills. "I would not describe this as a PR disaster. We have made a commitment to be open and transparent. These are tough decisions we have had to take in tough times and it would not be right of us to hide away and not explain ourselves."
British Gas had taken to Twitter after unveiling a 10.4% rise in electricity prices and an 8.4% increase in the gas tariff from 23 November. The increase was announced a week after slightly smaller moves by SSE, another of the "big six" power companies. Some customers face bills of £1,500 a year although fixed-price tariffs have also been introduced together with special help for those in need.
Peters said the decision to raise prices had not been taken lightly, but had been forced on the company by soaring costs despite promises to keep prices down after benefiting from larger-than-expected demand at the turn of this year.
He blamed the price rises on higher wholesale gas costs, charges for transport and distribution and the cost of government policies such as the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) to help insulate homes. The ECO element alone will add £40 to average dual fuel bills in 2014, according to British Gas. However, this calculation was challenged by the energy secretary, who had also described the wider bill increases as disappointing.
Davey said: "I recently wrote to energy companies asking them to publish their costs of delivering the Energy Company Obligation. Today's announcement shows why that is necessary, because British Gas ECO numbers just don't add up when you look at what other energy companies are saying about their costs."
Caroline Flint, the shadow energy secretary, said the British Gas move reinforced Labour's determination to introduce a price freeze if it returns to government in 2015. "This is the company that, with Centrica, has passed on the highest share of its profits to its shareholders while at the same time making the least amount of investment into what we need to ensure our energy security in the future."
Martin Lewis, of MoneySavingExpert.com, said the price rise increased the number of households where people would need to choose between "heating and eating". He added: "This price hike is big, and is nasty. It also means that two of the big six sheep have bleated, the rest are likely to follow within the next six weeks."
The Federation of Small Businesses said 40% of its members used British Gas and the "disgraceful" price increases would make life even harder for many struggling firms.
Twitter users seized on British Gas's attempt to explain its decision, particularly when its PR customer services director offered "advice and tips" on how to save money and blamed the price rise on the "general wholesale energy trend".
One reply said: "@BritishGas have you found a way to channel angry customer feedback into electricity?" A British Gas advert for a social media senior manager, a job that comes with a salary of up to £60,000, also attracted attention. The successful candidate, the advert says, will have a detailed understanding of Twitter and Facebook and "implement social media best practice and innovation".
Matt Owen, head of social at Econsultancy, said it was one of the worst PR disasters on social media he had ever seen. "It is a rotten PR fail … It is just ridiculous that they had set this up on the day of this huge price hike. They should have been prepared for vitriol and a backlash, but to exacerbate it by holding an 'ask me anything' session is ridiculous."
British Gas had made the situation even worse by failing to answer customers' Twitter questions, he added. "They needed to be transparent and at least have some kind of [web] landing page on why [the price increases are] happening. As it was there were just vague mutterings about 'wholesale prices' and that sort of thing, which isn't going to stop the shouting."
The social media firestorm that engulfed British Gas may be the worst since Starbucks invited its customers to "spread the cheer" on Twitter screens at a London museum last Christmas, prompting a storm of angry tweets over its failure to pay UK corporation tax.
Waitrose provoked more gentle mockery of its posh image when it invited Twitter users to say why they shopped at the store, while Tesco was the laughing stock of the internet when – at the height of the horse-meat scandal – its customer services team signed off with the tweet: "We're off to hit the hay".
