GreenChoices

Green electricity suppliers

Many electricity supply companies have introduced green schemes and tariffs of some sort. See the section on greener electricity for background information.

The following are some of the major schemes that GreenChoices has come across. The information is taken from the companies' own websites and the tariffs they offer and the prices they charge are subject to change. GreenChoices cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information, or the availability of any particular tariff.

• Good Energy is an independent supplier of renewable electricity to homes and businesses throughout England and Wales and across Europe. It supplies only 100% renewable energy, some from the Delabole Wind Farm in Cornwall which is owned by an associated company. It has no interests in non-renewable technologies and all the electricity they supply comes from wind, small scale hydro and solar power generators from all over Britain. It has a Home Generation scheme encouraging microgeneration. Good Energy is owned by Monkton Group PLC which is committed to investing in the future of renewable energy.

• Ecotricity build and supply new sources of renewable energy to homes and businesses and its profits are ploughed straight back into building new sources of green electricity, primarily wind parks. Ecotricity says that it is investing more money in building new sources of renewable energy per customer than any other company, and have created the WhichGreen league table of energy companies and investments in renewable energy.

• Juice from npower supplies electricity from a number of renewable energy sources, primarily at North Hoyle Offshore Wind Farm. npower makes an annual contribution of £10, for every customer that stays with Juice, to the Juice Fund which is used to assist the development of projects in other renewable energy fields. npower is the retail arm of RWE npower, a leading integrated UK energy supplier, part of the RWE Group. RWE npower operates and manages flexible, low-cost coal, oil and gas-fired power stations and are developing innovative energy-related technologies.

• Green Energy (UK) PLC offer two green electricity tariffs. Green energy +10 delivers 10 percentage points more green electricity than the statutory requirements (for 2006 this equates to 15%) while Green Energy 100 is 100% pure green electricity at a small premium over your regional electricity supplier. In 2005 50% of their energy came from newly commissioned facilities that were not in operation when they launched the business in 2001. There is a free shares scheme for loyal customers, and they aim is to make the process of selling excess energy as simple as possible.

• RSPB Energy is a green price plan from Scottish and Southern Energy. Donations are made to the RSPB when you switch your electricity supply and for each year you remain in the scheme. The electricity used is matched with generation from renewable sources. Scottish and Southern Energy Group includes Southern Electric and SWALEC. They are also heavily involved in electricity generation, supply and energy trading markets as well as the domestic gas market and have interests in electric goods retailing and electric and utility contracting.

• Go Green Electricity from Powergen matches every unit of electricity used by its customers with one sourced from hydro and wind power and they also help one to take steps to start reducing energy use with energy efficient products and services. Their Go Green dual fuel option offsets the carbon dioxide emissions from the gas used, via Climate Care. Powergen is part of E.ON, the world's largest investor owned electricity and gas company.

• Green Tariff from EDF Energy. EDF Energy pledges to match the electricity used with the equivalent amount of electricity from renewable sources; wind, landfill gas and small scale hydro. They charge a premium which is paid into their Green Energy Fund will be used to invest in the installation of renewable generation for community based and educational projects; such as solar panels for a school roof. EDF Energy also have a Climate Balance tariff where the extra sums charged will be used to fund energy efficiency or reforestation projects aimed at delivering sustainable differences to the environment and have wider benefits to local communities.

• ScottishPower have several green options. The Green Energy H2O option matches the amount of electricity used with a supply of clean, green hydro-power into the electricity grid. With their Green Energy Fund Offer customers who take up our existing Gas & Electricity Offer receive an annual discount which is automatically donated to the Green Energy Fund which supports renewable energy projects all over the UK. Via their Carbon Account, ScottishPower offers simple, cost effective tips and advice on reducing your emissions. What you can't reduce, you can neutralize (or 'offset') by planting trees that reabsorb or by investing in projects that cut down emissions, such as those which use renewable energy sources through their partnership with Future Forests.