What percentage of people are on a 100% green electricity tarriff? 9 November 2020 at 3:22PM in Green & ethical MoneySaving 9 replies 141 views

chrisgeller

I'm guessing less than 10% of households, but I can't find the exact number any where.
Seems like arguably one of the easiest ways to 'go green' for only a couple of quid extra per month.

Cardew

What does a 100% green electricity tariff entail for the generator and distribution company?

Does Nuclear generated electricity count as green?

Ectophile

I have a sneaking suspicion it's a lot more than 10%.  With the right accounting tricks, you can make any tarriff "green".

joefizz

chrisgeller said:

I'm guessing less than 10% of households, but I can't find the exact number any where.
Seems like arguably one of the easiest ways to 'go green' for only a couple of quid extra per month.

Far less than 10%. Its easy enough to calculate as the genuine suppliers limit the number of subscribers to 100% green tariffs, so just look up these numbers compared to the total number of subscribers.

Theres no 100% green tariff here in NI any more. There used to be and I was on it, one of only 30k subscribers out of a population of 1.8 million. In the end they couldnt sustain those 30k with a direct correlation to 100% green at all times.
Most of the tariffs you see as 100% include carbon offsetting which isnt really 100% green production and many dont produce at all. Ofgem have all the data (REGOs) but IIRC theres only one or two true 100% suppliers in the UK?

EricMears

Just because you're paying (probably extra even if RE is cheaper than FF !) for a 'green tariff' doesn't mean that you're getting 'green electrons' delivered.  

Petriix

I'd take the '100% green' claim with a suitable degree of skepticism. I suspect that these tariffs can be labelled this way with no particular obligation for the suppliers to do anything in addition to their normal operations.

The last four suppliers I have used (Tonik RIP, Bulb, Green.energy and Outfox the Market) have all claimed to be 100 renewable but I have really only switched for financial reasons; they certainly haven't been more expensive (although Bulb's prices are higher, the account credit more than paid for the energy I used).

I wouldn't like to hazard a guess as to percentages. I suspect that a ridiculous number of households never switch their suppliers and have not made any conscious choice about their tariff, let alone whether or not it is 100% green.

As it happens, my solar PV generates roughly my annual usage of electricity so I'm fairly happy with my green credentials. What I don't self-consume is used by my neighbours so I'm not really fussed whether my supplier claims to be green or not.

Screwdriva

And yet, somehow, we're at ~45% renewable generation in the first half of 2020?

couriervanman

I'm on the cheapest...that's all I'm bothered about 

EricMears

couriervanman said:

I'm on the cheapest...that's all I'm bothered about 

Absolutely !   Since what you're paying a supplier has zero influence on the actual composition of grid supplies,  you might just as well pay as little as possible and hope that the lowering RE costs and increasing FF ones accelerate the trend towards RE

GGSid

I am interested in this question too. The REGO system would need a large number maybe >50% of customers to have an impact. If a larger number of customers chose a green tariff, then that would put pressure on the suppliers to increase renewable generation. at the moment the REGO certificates are cheap because we have a lot of renewable electricity. that makes greenwashing quite easy.