Innovative Purchases Scheme set to Make Significant Savings for British Gas Business Customers

Eight Household Names Sign up to Offer Exclusive Purchase Power Deals to Energy Provider's Customers

LONDON, June 24, 2010 - British Gas Business - the largest business energy supplier
(www.britishgas.co.uk/business/) in the UK - is using its own
purchasing power to negotiate substantial deals and pass on those discounted
rates to its small business customers. It has enlisted the support of eight
companies, including household names such as Royal Mail, AXA and the AA. The
scheme, called Purchase Power, could help UK businesses save thousands of
pounds each year.

Those companies that have signed up to offer exclusive savings and
benefits to British Gas Business customers provide a range of essential
services to small and medium sized businesses. The package is free to join
for British Gas Customers and could save members up to GBP4,500 each year. It
includes the following:

    - Up to 60% off AA Fleetwide products
    - 30% off Royal Mail Sameday deliveries
    - 20% off Dyno-rod plumbing and drain repairs
    - 15% off AXA business insurance

The scheme is the latest example of British Gas Business' ongoing
commitment to support small business customers as we emerge from the
recession. In March 2009 the business launched it's SAVE (Small business
Advice and Value Expertise) initiative in response to customer insight, which
showed that smaller customers wanted a flexible approach to help manage their
costs and debt. The SAVE initiative also offers advice and practical help to
businesses looking to reduce their energy costs through efficiency measures.

Kanat Emiroglu, Managing Director of British Gas Business said:

"With economic conditions remaining tough, life is difficult for a great
many of our customers. They've told us they're constantly looking for ways to
stretch their finances further. Purchase Power brings together a package of
savings and benefits of essential business services and can make a very real
difference to our customers' operations."

Steven Seymour, Centre Manager at Crossgates Centre in Leeds and Park
View Centre Whitley Bay said:

"The last two years have been a difficult climate for business, with
increased pressure to reduce overheads whilst still providing a quality
service. Despite keeping a very close eye on my bottom line, I don't always
have the time to shop around and negotiate deals from suppliers. British Gas
Business' Purchase Power scheme means that I can have access to substantial
savings with minimum effort. For example, I can now save 25% on my annual
bill of GBP3,000 for office and stationery supplies. "

For further information and to register for Purchase Power, visit
www.britishgas.co.uk/purchasepower/

    About Purchase Power

    - The Purchase Power scheme is free to join and is available to all
    British Gas Business' 500,000 small and medium sized customers

    - GBP4,500 is the average annual saving a customer can expect to make if
    all deals are taken up. This is based on an average sales value for a SME
    customer.

    - The eight partners chosen to launch the scheme are: The AA, AXA
    Insurance, AXA PPP Healthcare, Caboodle office supplies, Dyno-rod, Hertz,
    Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide.

    - New offers will be introduced regularly, with four new deals each
    quarter, and the offers will be sizeable and exclusive to BGB customers.

    About British Gas Business

    - British Gas Business is the B2B unit of British Gas and has 500,000 SME
    customers, making it the largest energy supplier to small businesses in
    the UK.

    - British Gas has the lowest carbon intensity of any of the major UK
    energy suppliers in terms of tonnes of CO2 emitted per megawatt hour of
    electricity supplied to customers.

- For more information on business electricity supply (
www.britishgas.co.uk/business/products-and-services/business-electricity.html)
and gas connections
(www.britishgas.co.uk/business/products-and-services/connections-metering.html)
, visit www.britishgas.co.uk/business/.

(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste
this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the
space if one exists.)

For further information please contact: Kate Saner, katesaner at bluerubicon.com , +44(0)20-7260-2700.