[5] Serving around ten million homes in the United Kingdom, British Gas was the largest electricity supplier in the country until 2024 when it was overtaken by Octopus Energy.

It was founded by Frederick Albert Winsor and incorporated by royal charter on 30 April 1812 under the seal of King George III.

In the beginning of the 1900s, the gas market in the United Kingdom was mainly run by county councils and small private firms.

[11] In May 1968, the Gas Council moved to large new offices at 59 Bryanston Street, Marble Arch, London.

[18] In the same month (April 2016) British Gas also announced it would be closing a call centre and office in Oldbury (West Midlands), with a loss of approximately 680 jobs.

British Gas was led by chief executive, Sarwjit Sambhi, who oversees a business that provides energy and services to around ten million homes, and employs over 28,000 staff based across the United Kingdom.

[21] A further seven hundred job cuts in the United Kingdom were announced by Centrica in July 2019, amid growing marketplace challenges, which include the loss of 742,000 customers in 2018, and the government's price cap.

[22] In May 2007, British Gas signed a deal which saw 1,000 Volkswagen Caddy vans being supplied to the firm, which were fitted with a bespoke racking system and a speed limiter, designed by Siemens.

In 2020 British Gas announced they would be introducing an all electric fleet of vans, with all diesel vehicles to be replaced by 2025.

[25] In 2023, British Gas came under criticism after a series of media stories highlighting their poor customer service [26] and practice of breaking into homes to force people onto pre-payment meters.

[28] In a 2023 review, the UK government regulator for the energy sector, Ofgem, found that British Gas had 'moderate weaknesses' with their customer service processes, alongside the majority of suppliers.

[30][non-primary source needed] British Gas has actively been involved in sports sponsorship since the early 2000s.

[33] In November 2012, the Information Commissioner's Office publicly listed British Gas as one of a number of companies that it had concerns about due to complaints of unsolicited marketing telephone calls.