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British Gas customers face the prospect of talking to AI chatbots rather than humans under plans to cut 1,300 call centre jobs.
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, said it would cut another 800 roles, on top of 500 confirmed last month, under plans to reduce its customer service workforce by 14pc.
It said the overhaul had included the “targeted deployment of AI tools” that would help simplify its customer service operations.
Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of Centrica, insisted the job cuts were being driven by customer behaviour as callers instead chose to use digital bots to answer their queries.
Mr O’Shea said: “What we’re seeing just now is over 90pc of our customers actually use digital channels in the first instance, and we’ve seen a 20pc reduction in customer calls, so this simply reflects the changing customer behaviour.”
Centrica said that its “average contact per customer” had fallen by around a fifth since last year.
“Overall, we’ve got to reflect the changes in customer behaviour,” Mr O’Shea said. “We expect to grow more jobs around our digital interface, and maybe having fewer people on the phones.”
Silver Voices, a campaign group for senior citizens, criticised Centrica’s drive towards chatbots, which it warned might affect vulnerable customers “who may not be able to negotiate AI driven contact systems”.
Dennis Reed, its director, said: “Talking to a machine is not good customer service and these job cuts will be counter-productive for shareholders.
“The more AI is rolled out, the more dangers are identified and a national pause for reflection is required.”
A spokesman for Centrica said: “We have been transforming the business for a number of years to ensure we have the right roles in the right places for the future.
“This means making changes to improve efficiency, drive commercial performance and give our customers the service they want.
“At the same time, we continue to invest in the skills where there is demand, including recruiting more engineers to meet growing demand and hiring 500 apprentices this year alone.”
The job losses, which will take place during the next two years, came as the company revealed its adjusted operating profits fell 9.5pc in the first half of the year to £497m.
Centrica’s gas supplies have been disrupted by the Iran war, which sent European gas prices up to a three-year high in March.
Mr O’Shea added: “Volatility across energy markets has created challenges in some parts of our business, and some of our delivery has been slower than we would like.
“However, we have continued to invest with discipline to strengthen our portfolio and support long-term growth.”
The job losses follow news that two ageing nuclear power stations partly owned by Centrica will stay operational until 2030 to help keep Britain’s lights on.
EDF said it had decided to extend the life of the Hartlepool and Heysham 1 plants for an extra two years.
The sites are two of four advanced gas-cooled reactors that have been generating since the 1980s. Centrica owns a 20pc stake in the fleet.
