Big increase in complaints will rekindle row over standards
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Your support makes all the difference.British Gas faces fresh controversy this week when the industry watchdog, Ofgas, is expected to announce a sharp rise in complaints about the company in 1995, writes Mary Fagan.
The deterioration, which is likely to emerge in the Ofgas annual report on Wednesday, will rekindle the row over falling service standards at the beleaguered company.
The watchdog refused to comment, but the increase in complaints is thought to be across the spread of British Gas activities. Ofgas received 2,300 complaints and inquiries about British Gas in 1994.
The figures to be revealed this week are expected to be much smaller than those received by the Gas Consumers Council - but complaints to Ofgas are regarded as significant as it is regarded by many as a last resort.
In January the GCC announced a 102 per cent increase in complaints in 1995 to 49,104 and pronounced it a "rotten" year.
In response, the company blamed the fundamental restructuring of the UK gas business and said it would do everything in its power to resolve the problems.
Earlier this month British Gas was attacked by the Government for using the Charter Mark which it relinquished last year.
Genie Turton, director of the Charter Unit at the Cabinet Office, wrote to Cedric Brown, chief executive, when it emerged that some of the company's correspondence still displayed the mark.
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