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Centrica is squaring up to Homeserve with its new on-demand tradespeople service

UK energy giant Centrica has signalled its entrance into the on-demand economy with the UK-wide launch of its Local Heroes platform and sees the organisation squaring up to rival Homeserve in the process.

The British Gas owner’s new platform claims to handle the customer journey, from hunting for a relevant tradesperson to giving them a price estimate right through to confirmation and online payment for the work.

Centrica is initially focusing on local plumbing, heating, electrical and drainage experts but has said it will look to expand into new trades as the year progresses, as it looks to take a bite out of the £5.7bn on-demand services market.

Separating it from its rivals, including former acquisition target Homeserve, the work carried out by tradespeople on the platform is fully backed by Centrica and carries a 12-month British Gas guarantee, effectively working as a seal of approval for tradespeople on the platform.

Mark Hodges, Chief Executive, Centrica Consumer said that the new platform is part of the firm’s innovation push, with Local Heroes having been previously incubated at Centrica since 2016.

He commented: “Local Heroes is the first online platform that offers a complete start-to-finish experience, introducing current and next generation Centrica customers to local tradesmen – crucially, all backed by the peace of mind of a British Gas guarantee.”

As part of its UK launch, the platform will carry more than 2,500 tradespeople across the country with Centrica targeting several hundred thousand completed jobs by 2020.

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