British Gas said it is disappointed with the ruling (Image: Getty)
British Gas has had to pull its green technology advertising after regulators said it could mislead customers. It follows concerns raised by watchdogs that the adverts overstated how much households could save on their energy bills.
Advertisements from British Gas were banned by the Advertising Standards Authority after the regulator found that the company’s marketing exaggerated potential savings from heat pumps and solar panels.
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British Gas had promoted heat pumps, claiming households could save up to £546.
The ASA identified the adverts using its AI-powered monitoring system, which scans the internet for potentially misleading marketing, and, following its investigation, ruled that the adverts did breach the rules, reports GB News.
According to the regulator, the promotions breached advertising rules on five counts, including misleading advertising, failing to substantiate claims and inadequate price comparisons.
The British Gas advert appeared on Meta in May 2025. It featured an image of a person beside a heat pump, with text that assured customers that they could “go greener and lower your bills” by £546 when applying the technology with an exclusive tariff.
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The energy supplier was told that the ad must not appear again in its current form and have been issued a warning over future marketing.
British Gas defended its advertising claims by arguing the statement “up to” indicated that a substantial proportion of consumers, rather than all, would achieve such reductions.
It also said that the figure came from modelling that estimated savings for customers who replace end-of-life boilers with air-source heat pumps.
The company blamed space limitations for omitting detailed calculations from the advertisement.
However, the ASA found that British Gas’ own modelling showed that only 34% of 194 customers achieved the advertised savings, with some actually facing higher bills.
The heat pump ad appeared on Meta (Image: Getty)
Mike Foster, of the Energy and Utilities Alliance, said: “We have warned the industry that it has an obligation to be totally transparent and fair in the claims it makes around heat pump performance.
“The reason for this is that it’s a relatively new technology for consumers and the industry cannot afford to mislead people with cost savings that never materialise, as that’s bad for the industry.”
A British Gas spokesman said: “We are disappointed with the ASA ruling. Our advert showed the potential savings to customers from upgrading to a low-carbon heat pump, based on robust and transparent modelling.”
The ruling comes as the Government proceeds with its Warm Homes Plan, which allocates £ 2.7 billion for heat pump grants of £7,500 each, targeting 450,000 installations annually by 2030.
