New British Gas brand identity.

I have just seen the new brand identity from CHI & Partners for British Gas. I have also read many reviews and comments about in on several blog sites. My initial reaction is not great I'm afraid, but I feel it's not fair to be to negative without seeing the brief CHI was given by the client which should reveal what was the business and brand strategy for this logo. You will see for yourself that there are comments such as. " Not very British looking" " Looks like a GCSE project", "Typeface is dreadful" etc.. but what I find interesting is the underlying message behind this new identity. Firstly I think my initial reaction from many BG customers will be...'Why on earth are BG spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on this rebrand now when our bills are increasing by the month. The new vehicle wraps throughout the country will alone be astronomical. I can't help but think this new branding could have waited several more years until Britain was kind of back on it's feet again financially and our collective emotions weren't as gloomy. The actual stand alone logo itself for me looks a bit cheap (unlike their prices) especially the intended flame. Using blue and green gradients in a logo has been done to death and looks very naive. Hard to believe the creative director passed this.  The negative space within the flame is not an attractive shape at all and to bring in a hint of green smacks of jumping on the environmental band wagon, which to me they didn't really need to do. We as a population understand what BG's product is and what it does to our environment through our consumption... we don't need this feeble attempt to make us feel better about BG.  This leads me onto this strap line or brand promise if you want to call it that. "Looking after your world" again I'm not sure this will not come back to haunt BG in the future if something does go wrong (think BP). I personally don't need a utility company to look after my world. For a company like BG to settle for something this uninspiring and slightly mick taking for it's brand badge is quite incredible. How tightly tied were the agency's hands on this brief I wonder?  The actually typeface itself is not to bad, but yet it still falls short of the mark in aspirational terms for me. (Feel free to comment all you type designers). I was lucky enough to have worked on a BG project 'Happy to Help" in 2002/3 which I helped create the identity, so this project has interested me on a personal level. I'm not sure how the customers will react to this brand change, but I do know there will be comments made about this in every design and brand magazine and web forum around the globe and alas I feel the majority will not be positive. If you have any feedback or would like to a add your comments then please do so.