British Gas boss still working from home as complaints soar and customers face rising energy bills 

The boss of British Gas is working from home amid a national energy crisis and soaring customer complaints.

Chris O’Shea, chief executive of Centrica which owns British Gas, told Money Mail he will not return to the office five days a week despite working-from-home guidelines ending last month. Instead, he will stay at home at least one or two days a week in line with the firm’s new flexible-working policy.

It comes less than two weeks after civil servants were urged to return to their desks in a bid to boost the economic recovery after the pandemic. The Government hopes the return to office working will help struggling businesses in ‘ghost town’ city centres, whose takings were decimated during lockdown.

Chris O’Shea (pictured), chief executive of Centrica which owns British Gas, told Money Mail he will not return to the office five days a week

Critics also blame the move to home working for plunging customer service standards at major firms, with call wait times soaring. 

Complaints about British Gas rose from 105,651 in the three months to September 2020 to 154,430 in the same period of 2021.

And gripes about the firm’s HomeCare cover, which provides boiler insurance, more than doubled in the first half of last year to 191,414 from 69,665 in the same six months of 2020. 

Customers said they faced weeks without heating or hot water while engineers repeatedly failed to turn up as promised.

The firm was last week presented with Money Mail’s Wooden Spoon Award for the worst customer service in Britain, voted for by readers.

Britain is also facing a national energy crisis, with the average annual bill predicted to hit £2,000 later this year.

On its website, the energy giant claimed its ‘Flexible First’ working policy for its 6,000 contact centre workers would allow staff ‘to benefit from an improved work-life balance to do things like manage childcare, caring responsibility or getting fit’.

Britain is also facing a national energy crisis, with the average annual bill predicted to hit £2,000 later this year

Speaking from his home near Reading, Mr O’Shea – who earns £775,000 a year before benefits, bonuses and shares – said he had asked his chief people officer to look into flexible working options but was advised he would need to stick to the policy too for it to work.

‘I’m of the firm belief that people pay attention to what you do more than what you say,’ he said. ‘I’ve committed to [a flexible policy] and I like to keep my word so I will not go back five days a week to the office.’

Mr O’Shea, who was appointed as chief executive in April 2020, claimed the ability to run call centres from home would help ‘give customers what they want when they want it’.

Speaking from his home near Reading, Mr O’Shea – who earns £775,000 a year before benefits, bonuses and shares – said he had asked his chief people officer to look into flexible working options

But he added that while it is brilliant when it works, ‘when it doesn’t it’s a nightmare’.

Consumer expert Helen Dewdney, founder of The Complaining Cow website, said there was ‘no excuse’ for Mr O’Shea to remain at home.

She added: ‘There is an energy crisis going on and customers are fed up with poor customer service. By working from home, the bosses are giving the image they aren’t taking these issues seriously.’