Green fuel deals are a grey area

The UK Government will investigate how renewable electricity is marketed amid growing concerns that households are being misled about energy deals being advertised as “green”.

An increasing number of providers – including British Gas, E.ON, Scottish Power, Shell Energy, Bulb and Octopus – offer 100% renewable electricity to all customers or advertise green tariffs.

However, regulator Ofgem and the Energy Ombudsman are concerned some suppliers don’t make it clear to customers what they have to back up these claims.

Some companies have direct contracts with renewable energy generators to match the electricity they supply to customers. Others buy cheap “Regos” – renewable energy guarantees of origin certificates – or European equivalents to support their marketing.

This means they can legally market certain tariffs, or all of their services, as 100% renewable.

There are now calls in Westminster for evidence for a review as more energy companies capitalise on growing public concern around climate change.

Ofgem says it has concerns about “the transparency of green tariffs” and it “may not be clear enough for consumers to understand” the difference between “what they think they are buying in comparison to what they are actually buying”.

Consumer group Which? produced a report in 2019 that claimed many renewable deals amounted to “greenwashing”.

But suppliers using renewable energy guarantee certificates insist the system is not corrupt as they correspond to units of green electricity that are generated.

Hayden Wood, chief executive of Bulb, which markets its energy as 100% renewable, said: “We’ve always been transparent about our fuel mix.”