Ecotricity - anyone used them?

Liney_2

As I understand it the national grid works like a big pot - if I signed up to Ecotricity and for example use 1000 units of electric, ecotricity must then supply 1000 units to the pot. I know this means that I won't necessarrily be getting green electricity personally as I don't live near a wind farm but surely the more people who sign up, the more green units end up in the pot?? Is this right??

Wig

Liney wrote:

As I understand it the national grid works like a big pot - if I signed up to Ecotricity and for example use 1000 units of electric, ecotricity must then supply 1000 units to the pot. I know this means that I won't necessarrily be getting green electricity personally as I don't live near a wind farm but surely the more people who sign up, the more green units end up in the pot?? Is this right??

I agree with you but Ecotricity can only produce so much, any shortfall is met by power from conventional sources. I don't have the figures for their shortfall and agree in principle it is a sound idea to have the money reinvested into green energy. But I didn't like their tactics and I don't like the fact that they are not open about how much of the profit goes into the directors wallets, jaguar cars and nice big houses.

masonic

Liney wrote:

but surely the more people who sign up, the more green units end up in the pot?? Is this right??

Essentially, yes. But I think all you can really say is that more of your money will be invested in the future production of green energy. How much green energy Ecotricity can produce is will ultimately be linked to this, but as Wig suggests, what Ecotricity can put back into the market at present is very limited and beyond their immediate control (I imagine what they pledge to replace is calculated based on what they know they can already produce). That's not to say that signing up with them is a bad idea in principle - in the long run it could make a difference, but I would view reducing my energy consumption on the whole as being more effective than 'offsetting' that excess bad electricity with good.

oldwiring

Sorry if this is veering a bit OT, but I do have questions abiout the big boys and their green tarrifs where the claim is that your money goes into producing or reasearching green energy. I wonder what realation the pennies paid by the consumer have to the pounds, that would in any case be spent, spent by the cos on green prodcution and research.

Is it a case of ' company looks good: consumer feels good, and little else?

Or is it more than that?