Green energy supplier

absence

Hi

I'm looking at changing my current energy providers (Gas - British Gas and Electricity - Eon) to a more green, eco friendly supplier. Does anyone know of any good companies who are competitvely priced with the BIG major suppliers? I'm happy to combine my gas and electricity to one supplier or have them with two different suppliers. I've found a company called ecotricity (for electricity) - are they any good?

Many thanks

noncom_2

I'm looking to change to a proper Green Electricity company when I move house in a couple of months time (also hoping to get Solar PV installed at the same time).

The two companies I've come up with which look most interesting are Good Energy and Ecotricity.

Good Energy produce all their electricity from sustainable suppliers (they own a large wind farm in Cornwall, and have been a long standing administrator of micro-generation schemes which export their surplus). So they are a 100% Green supplier.

Ecotricity do not produce all their electricity from clean supplies (their website will tell you the proportions of their mix derived from coal, gas, nuclear, Green etc). But they claim that for every pound you spend on their electricity, they invest almost a pound building new Green sources. Therefore their proportion of Green electricity is rising fast each year (currently around 50%) and they claim that it is better to work in this way (actually increasing the amount of renewable generation in the UK) than to be a 100% Green supplier which does not actually build any new capacity.

You pay your money and take your choice, I guess. As I say, I haven't switched yet, so I can't comment on either of these companies in terms of their customer services etc. As far as price goes, neither will come close to the best deal you will get from one of the big companies, unfortunately. Ecotricity do also have the new option of their "Green Gas" option (again, with the target of moving gradually towards a greater proportion of "clean" gas from systems such as Anaerobic Digestion), and have said they will match British Gas' Standard Dual Fuel tariff.

I suspect I'll be going with Ecotricity, but I still have more research to do before I move to the new house and switch.

HTH
Andy

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I'm with Ecotricity for both now. Never had a problem with them - unlike EDF and British Gas before them, who always took far in excess of necessary for DD payments -

Ecotricity have nice people on the phone, you get to hear the seagulls outside their office window and if they say they will do something, they actually do it.

And if I have one more scam merchant try and gain access 'just to check the meter' when they can't even tell me who my energy supplier is, just guessing at it in the hope they're right, I will commit murder!

Nice_Username

I get my electricity from Good Energy, and I have to say they are excellent, and I haven't noticed any increase in my bills either. As mentioned before, 100% of their electricity is from renewables, unlike Ecotricity.

http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/?page_id=5117

If you want to join up let me know and I can recommend you as a friend - we will both get £25 off our next bill.

Fire_Fox

Good Energy claim to be 9% more expensive than market average (presumably including expensive standard tariffs); I have just looked and their greenest tariff is almost 50% more expensive than I am paying with Scottish Power for E7. :eek:

Have you looked at this company? Not as green but seem a lot more competitive:
http://www.loco2energy.com/aboutUs/FuelMixDisclosure.asp
Or
http://www.greenenergy.uk.com/FuelMix/Default.aspx

If you run your usage figures through some price comparison sites you can select to be only give the green tariffs. Obviously some of those will be the fake ones from the big six but I believe the more eco-friendly companies are also listed.

paulwf

Ethical consumer has a report that gives an introduction to this:

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/FreeBuyersGuides/energyutilities/greenelectricitysuppliers.aspx

Energy trading does get a very complicated issue, for example Ecotricity don't retire certificates so they can invest in renewable energy generation whereas Good Energy do retire some certificates. I do like the approach of Ecotricity although I don't like their percentage of nuclear power...but then it could be argued that is better than using coal.

There is a lot of info on the Ecotricity site, have a dig around on their blogs for instance. I think they have a good realistic approach and know the situation isn't perfect at the moment but spending money with them is investing it in alternatives so over time the situation will improve.

The Ethical Consumer report does give a sample guide to tarrifs, there does appear to be a significant cost to green tarrifs so it is probably worth choosing wisely or you could be wasting a lot of money (think of the surcharges for "carbon offsetting" which can be worthless).

andrione1

I have my energy with Marks and Spencers, they say it is all green energy, nothing else, but m/s energy not available all over Uk as far as i know. i switched to M/S because they are British and green.

absence

Comparing green companies and price tariffs is a minefield, especially when cost is one of the deciding factors (including customer care). I seem to be getting a better picture from the advice given so far. I'm worried that they will price match my current supplier and then 6mths down the line sting me with a price increase. Has this ever happened to anyone?
I'm also worried that they can't compete with the big major suppliers especially when theres a price war. If for instance British Gas reduced there tariff and eon followed suit would the green energy suppliers be able to dop their tariff as I assume their profit margin is a lot less.

Ben84

Regarding natural gas and green suppliers, it is technically possible to produce methane from renewable sources and pump it in to the gas network where it would be used like fossil fuel methane, but this is not happening anywhere in the UK at the moment and as far as I'm aware isn't going to start any time soon.

As nobody can sell you actual greener gas at the moment, the suppliers who offer gas with environmental claims tend to be gas suppliers with carbon offsetting schemes attached to them. I'm not sure offsetting works, but if you did want to offset then you could do it yourself and potentially for less expense.

Because all the gas we use in the UK is fossil fuel gas and has much the same environmental impact, I'm buying mine from the cheapest supplier. Better insulation and other gas use reductions you can make around your house seem to be the only available option to make your gas use better for the environment, and buying the gas from a cheaper supplier can save money to do this work. Reductions in your gas use, in contrast to confusing offsetting schemes show clear environmental benefits, and benefit you when your bills go down, so I'd invest my money there.

noncom_2

Well this is what Ecotricity say they are doing to produce the first "Green Gas" in the UK....

http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/about/our-green-gas

As stated before, I have no connection with the company (I don't even use them as my supplier at the moment, though considering doing so when I move shortly) so hope this won't be regarded as SPAM. If anyone with more knowledge of the Energy Industry than I have (which isn't hard!) has thoughts on the feasability and merits or otherwise of this scheme, it will help me make a decision.

Andy

penrhyn

Green energy tariffs are a con to get you to pay more for the same energy as the rest of us use.