Frequently asked questions

Joining Lite

What is Lite?

Who can use Lite?

How do I sign up for Lite?

After you’ve told your broker or energy consultant you want to go ahead with a Lite energy contract, they’ll let us know. If you are not already dealing with a broker, get a quote easily and quickly online - it'll be helpful if you have a current bill to hand.

We’ll email you to ask that you create your online account and look over your contract details to make sure they’re right. If you don’t have a smart meter, we’ll fit one for you.

We’ll ask you for your first gas and electricity meter readings just before we connect you to Lite (and before your electricity smart meter starts sending readings to us).

How do fixed price energy plans work?

Before you sign up for a Fixed Price Energy Plan, we’ll explain the key terms and conditions and make it clear that the contract is binding.

We’ll contact you within 10 days of agreeing the offer, and send you the link to an order confirmation pack that includes all your terms and conditions. Read all this information thoroughly.

Around 60 days before your Fixed Price Energy Plan is due to expire, we’ll contact you with a renewal quote.

If you’d like to switch suppliers, you can do so at the end of your energy contract.

If you don’t renew with us by the last day of your contract, we’ll put you onto our Variable Price Plan. You can go back onto a Fixed Price Energy Plan at any time.

What happens during my energy switch?

What are my deemed prices?

Managing your energy account

How do I manage my Lite account?

Lite is an online-only product so you’ll need to log in to see your gas and electricity bills or account details and to contact us. We’ll send you an email when your bill is ready.

For you to register for your online account, we’ll send you an email with a unique link. You’ll need to choose your password and follow the on-screen instructions to set up your account.

When you’ve registered, you’ll be able to manage your business energy by logging in to your online account with your email address and password.

What should I do if I have a problem logging in to manage my account?

Can I change my payment method?

All Lite contracts are set up for monthly variable Direct Debit – this means you’ll pay monthly for the energy you use, direct from your account. We can’t accept other payment methods for our Lite products. If you need to change your Direct Debit instruction, log in to update this in your online account. If your direct debit requires multiple signatures please contact us on webchat.

How do I make a complaint?

If you have a query about your account you can log in and contact us via webchat.

If you want to make a formal complaint, we want to sort things out for you quickly. Take a look at our complaints handling process about the steps we’ll take to solve your complaint.

Alternatively you can contact us by email at complaints@britishgaslite.co.uk please allow a minimum of 5 days for us to respond

I’ve just moved into a site supplied by you. What do I do now?

What should I do if I'm having issues downloading a bill or document?

What are the Lite VPP prices?

Smart meters

What is a smart meter?

Do I need a smart meter?

Will I get a smart meter for gas?

How long will it take to install my smart meter?

Who will install my electricity smart meter?

What do I need to do to prepare for my smart meter installation?

Please let our metering partner know if:

any vulnerable adults, children or mains powered medical equipment could be affected when the electricity supply is turned off
there are any other special requirements we need to know about before work starts
there are any parking restrictions

Please also:

clear the area around your current meter so that's it's as easy to access as possible
if your meter is in a cupboard, make sure this is unlocked
turn off any electrical items like alarms, security systems or computers, so that they're not affected when the electricity is turned off

Do I need a good mobile signal?

Will I still get estimated bills?

We may ask you for a reading or send an estimated bill while your smart meter is being linked with our billing system, which can take up to 30 days. As soon as we start to receive your automated readings, you’ll get a smart meter bill. It’s possible that you could receive an estimated bill (based on your electricity usage history) if we’re unable to take an automated reading due to a poor signal.

Will I need to provide meter readings online?

You'll need to submit your gas meter readings in your online account.

Through your electricity smart meter, we’ll receive your reads remotely each month. Occasionally, there might be a problem communicating with your meter. If this happens, we’ll ask you to send us your meter reading online while we investigate the issue.

When you join us, we may ask you to submit electricity reads online for a while until your smart meter starts sending through reads automatically.

How do I read my smart meter?

How do you keep my smart meter reading secure?

What should I do if I think my smart meter is faulty?

Meter faults are uncommon. However, if you think that you’re paying more than usual for your electricity, or you get a bill you weren’t expecting, there could be a problem with your meter or the signal from your meter.

To see if your meter is faulty:

Switch off all appliances in your business, including any with pilot lights
See if the numbers displayed on the smart meter are still moving

If the meter is still moving, it’s probably faulty. If the meter stops, turn on one appliance at a time. If the meter begins to move quickly, the appliance might be faulty.

If you believe that your meter is faulty or that it isn’t transmitting your meter readings, please log in and talk to us via webchat. If your meter hasn’t been connected properly or isn’t working correctly, we’ll fix it for you – free of charge. The Electricity and Gas (Standards of Performance) Regulations will apply to your installation visit to ensure you receive the highest standards of service.

Can I switch provider with a smart meter?

Yes, you're free to switch to another supplier if you've had a smart meter installed by British Gas Lite.

Wherever possible, your new supplier will make sure the smart functions of the meter, such as remote meter reading, are still available to you. If you've had a smart meter installed by another supplier, you can still switch to British Gas Lite and we will attempt to communicate with your meter remotely. Until we’re able to communicate to your meter, we’ll email you each month to ask you to provide a meter reading online.

What happens if you can't install a smart meter at my property?

We will attempt to install a smart meter at your business. There may be occasions where we are unable to install the meter or unable to install on the first visit. Some of the most common reasons include:

Poor mobile signal strength as your smart meter uses a SIM card, like in a smart phone, so relies on good signal strength
The meter may be unsafe to move, maybe due to its location, its condition or the environment (i.e. asbestos)
Additional work might be needed by yourself or the local network operator.

Whatever the reason, the engineer on site will explain the reason for not being able to install a smart meter for you at that time.

If we’re unable to install a smart meter, we will contact you and inform you of the next steps, which may include you providing monthly readings to us through your online account. We’ll email you each month that a reading is due.

Webchat

Who should I contact if I have no gas or electricity?: If you have an energy emergency, you don’t need to contact us on webchat. You should contact your network operator – find out more about energy emergencies.
What are the opening hours of webchat?: Our UK-based webchat team is open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm excluding bank holidays.
Who can I contact outside of opening hours?: If you have an energy emergency, please contact your network operator – find out more about gas and electrical emergencies. For other queries, please contact us on webchat during our opening hours so we can help you. You can also contact your broker during their opening hours about your account.
What should I do if I’m experiencing issues with webchat?: If you are experiencing issues loading webchat try the following steps to correct the issue:

Check you have javascript enabled by clicking this link www.whatismybrowser.com or www.enable-javascript.com - the webpage will tell you whether javascript is enabled or not. Also check that you don't have any tools or settings blocking cookies on sites you visit. You must have cookies and javascript enabled to use our website.
Check you don’t have any extensions on your browser which may block content e.g. Adblock Plus, Disconnect, NoScript, Privacy Badger or uBlock Origin
On your desktop or laptop try completing a hard refresh by loading our webpage then click Ctrl + F5 simultaneously; the page will refresh, this may resolve any caching issues.
Try accessing webchat from another device or browser i.e. another laptop, tablet or mobile.
If you are using Firefox check to see if it is applying tracking protection.

Other information

Am I a micro business?

What should I do if I have received an email that looks like a scam?

If you think you’ve been sent a scam email it could be a phishing scam. Phishing scams are used by criminals to steal personal information. To do this, they send emails claiming to be from a genuine company. Sometimes, they even ‘spoof’ email addresses so that the message seems to be from our systems.

If you think you’ve been sent a scam email from British Gas Lite, please send it to us at phishing@centrica.com so we can investigate.

Common scam emails contain attachments you’re not expecting, links you’re asked to click on, or offer you something of value like a refund. They often don’t refer to you by name.

What can I do to protect myself against scam emails?

Don't click on attachments and links you're not expecting
Disable the use of ‘macros’ in Microsoft Office documents
Always make sure your software is up-to-date
Always run an up-to-date virus checker

How do I spot genuine emails from British Gas Lite?

They will only provide links to the British Gas Lite website.
They will address you by name, not ‘Dear customer’.
If you’re not sure the email is genuine, then go directly to www.britishgaslite.co.uk in your browser to log in to your account instead of clicking on the link.

What should I do if I receive a suspicious phone call claiming to be from British Gas Lite?

British Gas Lite and our partners will not ask you for information like your annual consumption or your full meter details. Be alert if you receive a call asking for these, or for your financial details.
Search the phone number you’ve been called from online to see if it’s been recorded as suspicious.
Ask the caller for their name and phone number to call them back.
Report nuisance callers to your phone provider who can arrange to block them.
You can also register with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS). If the problem continues you can make a complaint to the TPS or the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).
See Ofcom's advice on nuisance calls here.

How can I reduce the energy I use in my business?

There are a number of simple things you can do to increase the energy efficiency of your premise and reduce your bills such as:

Turn off your lights and non-essential equipment when your premise isn’t occupied
Invest in timed switches to automatically switch lights or appliances off at the end of the day
Use the energy saving features of your office equipment
Install efficient lighting with movement sensors and daylight detectors to make sure lights are only on when they are needed
Invest in energy efficient equipment. Older appliances typically use more energy than modern models
Create a ‘green team’ who are responsible for putting energy efficient measures and staff awareness campaigns into practice

Do I pay VAT on my business energy use?

You will automatically be charged the standard rate 20% VAT unless you complete a declaration form for the reduced rate of 5% VAT. If you have more than one account with us you will need to fill out a separate form for each account. To complete the form go to ‘Submit VAT declaration’ on your account dashboard and fill out the required fields.

How do I qualify for reduced VAT?

Certain businesses can apply for reduced rate VAT of 5%. You may be eligible for this if:

- your business is a charitable or non-profit organisation.

- at least 60% of your usage is for domestic purposes.

- your usage falls below a certain amount. The threshold is less than 33kWh of electricity or 145kWh of gas per day. This should automatically be applied to your bill.

For more information see here. To apply for reduced VAT, go to ‘Submit VAT declaration’ on your account dashboard, and fill out the required fields.

What support information do you have on Coronavirus (COVID-19)?

Emergencies

What should I do if I have an electrical emergency?

If you have an electrical emergency, please call 105 from your landline or mobile phone, free of charge. This gives you up to date information about power cuts and electrical faults in your local area.

If there is a high risk you should call the emergency services immediately.

You can also call 105 if you notice damage to electricity powerlines and substations that could put you, or someone else, in danger.

105 is a free service available to businesses in England, Scotland and Wales. For more information, go to Power Cut 105.

Once the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) has made it safe or advised you to contact your supplier, please contact us via webchat. You can talk to our friendly advisors Monday to Friday 9 am - 5 pm.

For out of hours only please call our metering partners Western Power Smart Metering on telephone number 0345 744 8900. Any calls to this number during business hours will be redirected back to webchat who will be able to deal with your situation.