Is your energy tariff actually green?

A third of British homes are now supplied by so-called green energy plans, but the vast majority of tariffs may not be as clean as their customers believe. By Will Kirkman

The vast majority of energy customers on “green” tariffs are unwittingly paying for power from non-renewable sources. A third of British homes are supplied by so-called green energy plans, leading customers to think their home is powered by environmentally friendly fuel sources. However, nearly nine in 10 tariffs that purport to be green instead use a certification scheme loophole and do not involve energy generated from renewable sources. Only a small number of suppliers buy directly from greener plants.

Energy generators, which include wind and solar farms, can apply for Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin ( Rego) certificates, issued by the Government, and then sell them on to household energy suppliers, which do not need to purchase any of the actual energy created.

Certificates can be bought for as little as £1 and allow suppliers to market their tariffs as green, while potentially buying electricity from nonrenewable generators such as coal or gas-fired power stations.

In some cases, tariffs marketing themselves as green could be getting as little as 3.7pc of their energy from truly green sources.

A new accreditation tool launched by Uswitch, the comparison service, and assessed by an independent panel of experts, has found that 85pc of the 115 “green” tariffs analysed were Regobacked rather than sourcing power directly from renewable means. This includes tariffs from popular providers such as British Gas, E.On, Ovo Energy and Pure Planet.

Richard Neudegg of Uswitch said: “Green tariffs are increasingly in demand from those who want to do their bit for the environment, but it’s clear that there’s a vast gulf between the perception among consumers and the reality of what makes up these deals.”

Seventeen tariffs were found to offer 100pc of their electricity directly sourced from renewable generators. These included British Gas’s Green Future tariff and seven plans from Good Energy, as well as tariffs from Scottish Power and EDF.

Nigel Pocklington of Good Energy said: “The energy market is in drastic need of reform. Millions of customers are being misled by tariffs that do little to support green power or tackle climate change.”

Dale Vince OBE, founder of Ecotricity, disputed Uswitch’s findings.

‘Millions of customers are misled by tariffs doing little to support green power’

He said: “This is a dog’s dinner from Uswitch – a company that only recommends suppliers who pay for the privilege. They have no independent standing in the energy market and no understanding of green energy.” A spokesman for Bulb said its fuels were 100pc renewable and it had recently signed around 30 new power purchase agreements. The spokesman said it also bought electricity from the wholesale market, matched by Regos from renewable generators in Britain. An E.On spokesman said two years ago the firm moved all its customers to 100pc renewables-backed electricity tariffs as standard at no extra cost.

Peter Simon of British Gas said: “We’re delighted to have our Green Futures tariff acknowledged as being one of the greenest on the market. Over the past two years we have provided 100pc zero-carbon electricity to all UK customers as standard, and as the biggest retailer of zero- carbon electricity we’ll continue to do this.”

Andrew Ward of Scottish Power said it generated only renewable electricity in the UK and welcomed “anything that brings transparency to the market”.

A spokesman for EDF said: “Our Go

Electric tariff is 100pc renewable and is backed by electricity that we purchase directly from EDF-owned renewable generators, via power purchase agreements.”

SSE, Pure Planet, Octopus and Ovo Energy declined to comment. ESB, Together Energy, M&S Energy, Omni, Utility Warehouse, Shell Energy and People’s Energy did not reply to requests for comment.

Affect Energy, Ebico, Green, SO Energy, Symbio, Goto, Outfox the Market, Neon Reef, Utility Point, Orbit Energy and London Power could not be reached for comment.