Tuesday 28 September 2010

British Gas 'to hammer small firms' with poor credit records

British Gas has been urged to 'go back to the drawing board' over plans to
introduce pre-payment meters for small businesses amid fears that the move
could choke cash flow and lead to failures.

British Gas has been urged to 'go back to the drawing board' over plans to
introduce pre-payment meters for small businesses amid fears that the move
could choke cash flow and lead to failures.

Financial Mail has learnt that British Gas is working on plans to install
the meters in the premises of small firms with poor credit records. The
energy giant is running trials and expects to start installing meters more
widely within a year.

But Stephen Alambritis of the Federation of Small Businesses said the need
for pre-payments could adversely affect cash flow for small firms.

Insolvency rates were not as high as in previous recessions, he added, and
the risk of huge defaults was unlikely.

Rivals npower and Scottish & Southern said they had no plans for similar
meters, adding that bad debt levels had remained constant this year.

British Gas, which has 500,000 small business customers, claimed the
pre-payment meters might help firms with poor credit histories to get power
supplies more quickly and cheaply.

http://www.fmwf.com/media-type/news/2010/09/british-gas-%E2%80%98to-hammer-s
mall-firms%E2%80%99-with-poor-credit-records/

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