Do you care about the energy mix?

stator

Personally I wouldn't use any supplier who generates the majority of their energy using coal and I'm not too keen on Natural Gas either, so my choices are rather limited. Luckily co-op are rather competitive with their prices at the moment and have a large renewables share, previously I've used EDF because their prices were good and are mostly nuclear.


http://wordpress.mrreid.org/2011/05/26/fuel-mix-and-co2/

Just wondering, does anyone else care? Or is it just prices people worry about?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

stator wrote: »

Just wondering, does anyone else care? Or is it just prices people worry about?

Absolutely not. Prices allied with a modicum of customer service (admittedly the latter I gather mostly from this forum!)

Hedgehog99

Yes, I care, but I don't think the suppliers care if one or two customers switch due to methods of generation.

I don't like nuclear - leaving a concrete behemoth for future generations to deal with - but I also worry about the UK not being self-sufficient / being reliant on imports from other countries who therefore potentially then control our power supply.

If our population reduced to a sensible number, overall power demand would fall, helping us to meet carbon targets etc.

It annoys me that here we are paying all sorts of green taxes to encourage us to reduce usage & yet other countries are guzzling resources at a vast rate that is financially cheaper, but a greater environmental cost than ours.

EssexExile

Given the choice I would avoid nuclear like the plague, or radiation sickness. Having said that I'm not sure whether where you buy your energy really affects how it is generated. If more people switch to BG I doubt it means more electricity is generated by gas.

matelodave

Not really, price and customer service is my main concern although as most of them have appalling customer service it's price for me.

Nuclear doesn't bother me, it's a lot cleaner that coal or gas and it would make us self sufficient if we weren't importing a lot of it from France.

Southend1

Interesting blog here from Ovo about why smaller suppliers look worse in terms of energy mix. It's mainly because the big six can claim the green energy they generate for their own customers while leaving coal generated power for the rest http://www.ovoenergy.com/blog/2015/01/ovo’s-fuel-mix-challenge--out-with-the-coal--in-with-the-renewable/

On that basis I personally wouldn't consider energy mix when switching but there are green tariffs available for those who are so inclined. Not sure how green they really are though.

Robwiz

I'm less concerned about my electricity company's energy mix than reducing my own home's total energy consumption. When I net our solar PV generation against what we take from the grid, it more than offsets the worst mix.

The UK's generating capacity is fixed so I'm happy to buy my energy as cheaply as I can and let others pay more for their ideal energy mix.

stator

Most power stations don't run anywhere near full capacity for most of the day, so if you buy your energy from one firm you can have an effect. If everyone preferred nuclear or gas the coal stations would have a hard time flogging their energy and have to shut down sooner.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Nuclear first
Carbon if necessary
Green [so called] never .. .. under any circumstances

System

I must admit i know i find it hard to pay my bills and the gov likes nuclear, but in all honestly i would have any thing but nuclear, its not safe full stop.

We live on a island surly wave powered has to be a good way to get power.

I dont mind solar panel wind turbines any but Nuclear

Richie-from-the-Boro

mackemps3 wrote: »

I must admit i know i find it hard to pay my bills and the gov likes nuclear, but in all honestly i would have any thing but nuclear, its not safe full stop.

We live on a island surly wave powered has to be a good way to get power.

I dont mind solar panel wind turbines any but Nuclear

Look those who never use comparison sites never change, they [called stickies] are about 60% of all customers. Those 60% who never change pay higher prices and unfortunately subsidise the 40% of us that do change. Green costs about 30% more than non green to generate, and even more with offshore generation. I prefer my energy 30% cheaper fortunately those like yourself will subsidise me for which I am eternally grateful - thank you mackemps3 - both myself and my family appreciates your financial subsidy of my personal energy costs.