British Gas Launches Free Weekend Power Offer

Consumers are being urged to shop around for the best deal to suit their needs as British Gas introduces an industry first - free weekend electricity for customers with smart meters.

Under the offer, known as FreeTime, the UK's biggest supplier said its 2.4 million home customers currently eligible would be able to select getting free power between 9am and 5pm on a Saturday or Sunday from this weekend.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) added that trials had shown annual average savings of £60 per customer and there were no hidden premium charges for energy use during other periods.

"FreeTime is fixed until March 2018 and will be the cheapest dual-fuel deal currently offered by British Gas," the company said.

Sarwjit Sambhi, managing director of UK Home at British Gas, said customers who wanted smart meters would be eligible once they had been installed.

"FreeTime is an industry first and will give our customers greater control of their energy use. British Gas is leading the nationwide roll-out of smart meters, and now we’re the first to launch a smart plan that offers free electricity at weekends.

"This will be the first of many smart meter innovations from British Gas which will also contribute to managing the country’s demand for power from the national grid."

Tom Lyon, of price comparison service uSwitch, said: "British Gas' new tariff is a good example of the innovative new deals which are now coming on to the market following the relaxing of restrictions by Ofgem.

"However, the 'HomeEnergy FreeTime' deal is, on average, £250 a year more expensive than the market's cheapest deal, so customers should always shop around."

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, said: "While this is a welcome innovation by British Gas - and certainly will save money for its existing customers who opt for it as it's the same price as its standard tariff, but with eight hours a week free - it's certainly not worth switching towards it for and British Gas customers would still be better off ditching and switching.

"After number crunching, only a freakish combination of circumstances would make this the cheapest deal on the market.

"This deal gives you free electricity nine to five on a Saturday or Sunday. That's a third of a day and a day is a seventh of a week. So the free period is less than 5% of the week."

Rival moneysupermarket said on Thursday that households could save up to £670 under the cheapest deal currently being offered by the big six - which are British Gas, SSE (LSE: SSE.L - news) , ScottishPower, nPower, EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 - news) and E.ON.

The industry remains under intense pressure on the issue of price following widespread outrage over bills since the collapse in wholesale costs linked to the plunge in oil prices.

According to moneysavingexpert.com, big six standard dual fuel tariffs remain, on average, £300 more expensive than the cheapest offers currently in the market.

Which? called last week for regulators to come down "like a ton of bricks" on suppliers which failed to raise their game following the two-year Competition and Markets Authority investigation into the sector.

Its remedies include forcing the big six to encourage switching - finding customers were being financially punished for loyalty.

Under the measures, the industry regulator must make available to companies a list of households on standard tariffs for more than three years. This will allow rival suppliers to offer them cheaper deals.

Which? claimed earlier this month that the major firms were out of touch - claiming tariffs were on the rise again .

But this was swiftly denied by Energy UK, the industry body, which said variable and fixed bills were dropping "every day".

The energy sector has argued that their billing also reflects the need for high investment on infrastructure - with wholesale costs making up less than half of their charges.

Some supply businesses have reported financial losses (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) .