British Gas Home Energy (September 2026)
Overview
There is no single best choice: compare price, service, app and green-energy evidence separately.
About British Gas and Home Energy
Who is British Gas?
British Gas is one of the UK's oldest and most recognised domestic energy suppliers. Owned by Centrica, it operates as Scottish Gas in Scotland and is one of the UK's largest energy suppliers. A key feature is its large network of in-house engineers and its close link with Hive smart home devices.
Who are Home Energy?
Home Energy is a smaller, independent energy supplier that started in 2017. Operated by Home Energy Trading Ltd and part of the Net Zero Planet Group, it aims to be a low-cost choice compared to larger suppliers. The company focuses on simple, flexible energy plans and clear billing, letting customers manage their accounts through a mobile app.
Use our referral link, and we'll both get £50 credit once your switch is complete.
Existing customer? Find out how you can benefit too. T&Cs apply (only one switching offer per household)
Tariffs and pricing
The lowest-priced option across both suppliers is Home Energy's Fair Variable Dual. This variable tariff costs £1,453 a year, making it £98 cheaper annually than British Gas's lowest-priced equivalent, the Cap Tracker Plus Sep27 v1, which sits at £1,551 a year. Both tariffs operate on a 0-month term, but Home Energy allows customers to leave without penalty, whereas the British Gas variable tariff includes a £50 exit fee.
For households seeking price certainty, British Gas provides fixed-term contracts. Its cheapest fixed deal is the Fix and Boiler Bonus v14 at £1,649 a year, which requires a 21-month term and carries a £200 exit fee. Our current pricing data shows no fixed tariffs available from Home Energy.
British Gas and Home Energy: Tariff Options
British Gas tariffs
British Gas offers a range of energy plans. These include standard variable and fixed-term deals, as well as specialist smart tariffs for electric vehicle owners, homes with heat pumps, and customers with solar panels or battery storage.
Home Energy tariffs
Home Energy keeps its energy plans simple, focusing on a flexible variable rate. It does not currently offer fixed-term deals, tracker tariffs, electric vehicle tariffs, or dedicated green tariffs.
Customer reviews
British Gas maintains a Trustpilot rating of 4.5 out of 5 across more than 353,000 reviews. Home Energy holds a score of 4.1 out of 5, though this is drawn from a much smaller sample of 873 reviews. When breaking down the ratings, Home Energy receives a slightly higher proportion of five-star scores (72%) compared to British Gas (66%). Both suppliers see a similar share of one-star ratings, at 19% for Home Energy and 20% for British Gas.
Written feedback for British Gas frequently highlights professional engineers and clear communication, alongside some reports of long wait times and repetitive customer service loops. Home Energy reviewers often note fast response times and helpful staff, while negative comments tend to focus on direct debit management and unexpected billing adjustments.
In independent assessments, British Gas achieves a Which? customer satisfaction score of 59 out of 100. Within this, it receives 8 out of 10 for helping those who need it, but scores 0 out of 5 for its switching process. Home Energy does not currently hold a Which? rating.
App quality and features
British Gas mobile apps score 4.5 out of 5 on the App Store and 4.1 out of 5 on Google Play. The supplier actively maintains its software, releasing multiple updates recently.
Home Energy's applications score 2.3 out of 5 on iOS and 2.2 out of 5 on Android. These figures are based on very small samples—just 7 and 16 ratings respectively—which limits direct comparison with the tens of thousands of ratings for British Gas. Additionally, Home Energy has not released any app updates in the last 90 days.
Looking at a small sample of recent iOS reviews, British Gas averages 1.7 stars, with some users noting software bugs following smart meter installations. Recent iOS reviews for Home Energy average 2.0 stars, where users report issues with the app forgetting login details and struggling to process direct debit changes.
Recent updates to the British Gas app introduced emergency credit tracking for prepayment customers. Meanwhile, Home Energy's most recent release notes indicate the addition of Priority Services Register features and direct debit setup functionality.
Service and support
British Gas holds a Citizens Advice score of 2.61 out of 5, ranking 13th overall. The supplier records an average call centre wait time of 51 seconds and responds to 97.9% of emails within two days. Social media queries are answered in an average of 55 seconds.
Home Energy does not currently feature in the Citizens Advice rankings. Consequently, direct comparisons between the two suppliers using these independent service metrics are not possible.
According to Citizens Advice, British Gas has registered vulnerability commitments. The supplier accepts Direct Debit, Cash/Cheque, and Prepayment methods. Its phone support operates on weekdays from 8am to 6pm, and on Saturdays from 9am to 2pm.
Complaints and performance
In the second quarter of 2026, British Gas received 944 complaints for every 100,000 customers. There is no complaints data available for Home Energy, so we cannot compare the two suppliers directly.
Green Energy Comparison
British Gas
According to Citizens Advice data, the electricity British Gas supplies is largely nuclear, with some fossil fuel and renewables. The supplier aims to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. It focuses its green approach on helping customers lower their carbon footprint at home by selling and installing energy-efficient technology such as electric vehicle chargers, heat pumps, and solar panels.[1]
Home Energy
Home Energy supplies a mixed electricity fuel mix. The supplier states its mix is made up of mostly renewable energy and natural gas, alongside some nuclear and coal. As part of the Net Zero Planet Group, the company aims to reach net zero by 2050. It does not currently offer a dedicated green tariff or mention any carbon offsetting schemes.[2]
Our verdict
| If you care most about | Choose |
|---|---|
| The lowest annual cost on our assumptions | Home Energy |
There is no single best choice: compare price, service, app and green-energy evidence separately.
Use the decision table to match the available evidence to the factors that matter most to your household.
- Cheapest variable tariff at £1,551 / year
- 4.5 Trustpilot from 353,681 reviews
- iOS app rated 4.5 out of 5
- 98% of emails answered within 2 days
- Cheapest overall tariff carries a £50 exit fee
- 20% of Trustpilot reviews are 1-star
- 16% of Google Play ratings are negative
- Cheapest variable tariff at £1,453 / year
- 4.1 Trustpilot from 873 reviews
- 19% of Trustpilot reviews are 1-star
- 63% of Google Play ratings are negative
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, British Gas or Home Energy?
On the stored annual-cost assumptions, British Gas is £1,551 and Home Energy is £1,453. Home Energy is lower by about £98 a year.
Can British Gas and Home Energy complaint rates be compared directly?
No direct complaint-rate winner is declared because British Gas and Home Energy do not both have figures for the same stated reporting period.
Which supplier leads on customer service?
The supplied data does not support a like-for-like customer-service winner.
Which supplier has the better app evidence?
The supplied data does not support a like-for-like app winner.
Do tariff eligibility rules matter?
Yes. Specialist, time-of-use, EV, heat-pump and export tariffs can have equipment, meter or account requirements. Check the current supplier terms before applying.
Which supplier has the greener evidence?
The supplied data does not support a like-for-like green-energy winner. This row is based on published fuel-mix percentages.
Which is better overall, British Gas or Home Energy?
There is no single overall winner in this repaired draft. Price, service, app and green-energy evidence are kept as separate choices in the decision table.
When was this comparison updated?
The structured source payload is for September 2026.
What changed this month
This month, British Gas's fixed tariffs available rose from 1 to 3, Home Energy's iOS sampled reviews avg stars rose from 1 to 2, and British Gas's iOS sampled negative reviews rose from 0 to 3. There were 34 other data changes this month — see the full changelog below for details.
Data changes this month (45)
British Gas
- Trustpilot rating4.4 → 4.5
- Trustpilot reviews350,018 → 353,681
- Trustpilot 5-star %65 → 66
- Trustpilot 3-star %4 → 3
- Trustpilot positive reviews %73 → 74
- Trustpilot neutral reviews %4 → 3
- Trustpilot net-positive %50 → 51
- iOS app ratings count13,000 → 14,000
- iOS app days since last update9 → 15
- iOS sampled reviews avg starsnow available (1.67)
- iOS sampled negative reviews0 → 3
- Play Store rating4.0881915 → 4.1812863
- Play Store ratings count13,409 → 13,701
- Play Store days since last update10 → 18
- Play Store positive ratings %77.4 → 80.1
- Play Store negative ratings %19.1 → 16.4
- Play Store net-positive %58.3 → 63.7
- Avg social media response timenow available (55)
- Cheapest variable tariff£1,744.71 → £1,550.78
- Cheapest fixed tariff£1,833.95 → £1,649.29
- Cheapest tariff£1,744.71 → £1,550.78
- Cheapest fixed tariff exit fee£150 → £200
- Cheapest fixed tariff term24 months → 21 months
- Tariff count3 → 5
- Fixed tariffs available1 → 3
- Shortest fixed term24 months → 21 months
Home Energy
- Trustpilot rating4 → 4.1
- Trustpilot reviews827 → 873
- Trustpilot 5-star %71 → 72
- Trustpilot 1-star %20 → 19
- Trustpilot positive reviews %75 → 76
- Trustpilot negative reviews %23 → 22
- Trustpilot net-positive %52 → 54
- iOS app days since last update158 → 188
- iOS sampled reviews avg stars1 → 2
- iOS sampled negative reviews3 → 2
- Play Store rating2.4 → 2.1875
- Play Store ratings count15 → 16
- Play Store days since last update159 → 189
- Play Store positive ratings %26.7 → 18.8
- Play Store negative ratings %53.3 → 62.5
- Play Store neutral ratings %20 → 18.8
- Play Store net-positive %-26.6 → -43.7
- Cheapest variable tariff£1,625.43 → £1,452.53
- Cheapest tariff£1,625.43 → £1,452.53
Related comparisons
Related reviews
Good Energy Review
Founded in 1999, Good Energy is one of the UK's oldest green energy suppliers. It is an established domestic supplier that focuses on renewable electricity and carbon-neutral gas. In April 2025, Good Energy was bought by Esyasoft, a Dubai-based energy software company. This deal meant Good Energy mo
Read review →
E.ON Next Review
E.ON Next is the home energy brand of the wider E.ON group. It was set up to replace the older E.ON brand and npower after E.ON bought the company. Today, it is one of the UK's biggest domestic energy suppliers.
Read review →EDF FreePhase Dynamic prices
Three daily electricity price bands that follow the wholesale market, published a day ahead on a twelve-month agreement with no exit fees.
Read more →Related guides
How to get a free Octopus Energy cuddly toy?
If you are an Octopus Energy customer, you might recognise their pink, eight-legged mascot, Constantine. Fluffy plush versions of the mascot have become highly popular, often appearing across social media and in homes around the UK.
Read guide →
Who is cheaper than British Gas? (2026)
British Gas is one of the UK's largest energy suppliers, but staying on its default standard variable tariff is currently one of the most expensive ways to pay for your gas and electricity. Following a 13% rise in the Ofgem price cap on 1 July 2026, household energy bills have jumped again, driven b
Read guide →
Who are the ‘Big Six’ energy suppliers?
For years, the term 'Big Six' was used to describe a specific group of energy companies that dominated the UK market. These companies emerged after the energy sector was privatised in the 1990s. Today, the phrase is mostly an outdated industry label. The original line-up no longer exists, as several
Read guide →
Written by
Rob Gibbs
Hi, I'm Rob, and I run Energy-Review.co.uk. I initially started this project in 2018 when I was looking to switch energy suppliers and found there wasn't a website that provided simple, data-backed reviews on all the suppliers available. Since then, I have spent a lot of time (too much, some may say!) looking at all publicly available data about each supplier and writing reviews using this information. These reviews are updated as regularly as possible, and any data is backed up by a source where necessary. I have also started writing guides on various energy-related topics, which hopefully you will find useful. If you find any issues, please use our contact form to let us know.