British Gas Ditches Digital Brand Evolve

Centrica is scrapping its digital-facing, low-cost brand British Gas Evolve just a year after launch, with its 250,000 customers transferred to British Gas with no change in tariffs.

British Gas said its research showed customers weren’t connecting to the ‘Evolve’ name and were drawn instead to the established British Gas branding, with its suggestion of stability during a tumultuous time in the energy market. 

“Now more than ever they want to know that their energy company is responsible and sustainable. This reflects that they value the strength and stability of our business and our 200-year history of putting customers at heart what we do,” a spokesperson said. 

British Gas Evolve was launched in October 2020 as a “low-cost, digital-first” supplier that could contend with the challenger brands that have siphoned millions of customers away from British Gas over the last decade. With the brand, Centrica aimed to “take what we see has worked from these successful disrupter brands” and “evolve a new business that will win back customers and help Centrica grow.”

British Gas Evolve eventually gained 250,000 customers, including the 50,000 it won when it served as supplier of last resort (SoLR) for Simplicity Energy, which toppled in January.

But with two dozen of those disrupter brands failing over the last three months amid a surge in wholesale energy prices, Centrica now thinks the Evolve brand is superfluous.

The brand has now closed but British Gas Evolve customers won’t notice any difference besides the disappearance of the ‘Evolve’ name. Their energy supply will continue as normal, their tariff and payment details will stay the same, and they’ll be able to log into ENSEK Ignition platform with the same details.

Meanwhile, the energy crisis that is culling challenger brands is reversing the exodus from British Gas. Centrica supplied 6.8 million households through British Gas and British Gas Evolve in July, down from over 10 million a decade ago. But British Gas has now scooped up more than 500,000 customers through the supplier of last resort (SoLR) process and is one of a handful of large energy companies that were the destination of three-quarters of household switching in September.

Lauren Smith

Lauren Smith has worked as a journalist and copywriter for most of the last decade, covering technology, energy, and consumer rights, in the US and UK.

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