Green Energy in Your Home
Green energy in your house? It's not a dream, you do not need to install solar
panels on your roof or build a wind farm in your allotment. Today several electricity
companies offer to supply your house with energy from renewable sources.
Background
At present, less than 3% of electricity in the UK comes from renewables. The
Government is committed to a 10% target in 2010. In order to achieve this figure
the government proposed the Renewables Obligation (RO). All licensed electricity
suppliers in England and Wales will be obliged to buy renewable generated power
from 1st April 2002. As an alternative, suppliers may fulfil part of their obligation
by paying a buyout price to Ofgen, which will be set at a330/ MWh at the beginning
of the process and later will be adjusted in line with the retail price index.
It is proposed that the obligation on each supplier will rise from 3% of sales
in the first obligation period (2003) to 10.4% of sales in the year 2010. It
is estimated that the RO will increase the cost of electricity to consumers in
Great Britain by around 0.5% each year until 2020, a total increase of a little
under 5%.
Good example comes from Downing Street
A quarter of the electricity supplied to 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet office
buildings at 70 Whitehall is now being sourced from renewables, including wind
power and landfill gas. The Department of Social Security - the first Government
Department to have a building with 100% renewable electricity supplies - is extending
this arrangement to include 30 more offices.(1)
At present several local authorities are buying green electricity. For example
The Gloucestershire County Council has successfully purchased 100% green energy
for its Shire Hall complex.
Green energy in your home
The UK electricity supply companies are currently encouraging their customers
to buy green energy with different schemes and tariffs. Green energy in your
house means that electricity is generated by clean, safe and efficient technologies,
reducing pollution and posing no harm to the environment. Some examples of companies
offering the electricity from renewable energy sources are listed below.
The Unite(e) company, which according to the FOE energy suppliers' Green League
was the greenest choice in January 2001, is providing 100% renewable energy services
to domestic and corporate customers. The price of the energy depends on the region
of the country. There will be no change to the quality or reliability of your
supply. The electricity bill will be around a33 a month more., based on an average
domestic household consumption of 3,300 units per year, paying standard domestic
tariff. For more information: http://www.unit-e.co.uk
Juice is the electricity product announced on 1st August 2001 by Npower energy
in a partnership with Greenpeace. It will enable 50,000 domestic electricity
customers to receive their electricity from clearly identified, renewable sources
at the same cost as any other Npower customer. Juice will allow residential customers
anywhere in the UK the opportunity to purchase clean electricity generated by
the wind at sea. For more information: http://www.npower.com/html/juiceandwindpower_4467.htm
ScottishPower is committed to being one of Great Britain's leading suppliers
of Green Energy. The UK-wide launch of Green Energy was marked by reducing the
premium on Green Energy tariff to just 3p a day for both new and existing customers.
For customers who take gas and electricity from the company this is equal to
their a310.50 annual discount. The reduced premium will attract many more customers,
resulting in funds for the Green Energy Trust and financial assistance for a
growing number of renewable energy and educational projects at community level.
For more information: http://www.scottishpower.com
ECOPOWER is Eastern Energy's green energy scheme for domestic customers. It has
been running for over three years. Customers who choose ECOPOWER pay an extra
50p per week (excluding VAT) on their electricity standing charge. This money
is held in an independent fund, used to award grants to renewable energy projects.
For more information: http://www.pickasupplier.co.uk/green/ee.asp
At the beginning of 2002, Energy Minister Brian Wilson said that 2002 would "the
year of renewables" in which the potential contribution of power generated from
clean sources would finally be recognised in the UK. With the new legislation
which is about to come into force the energy suppliers will also alter their
green tariffs and schemes. If you want to make the very best choice for the environment
- buy energy from the renewable energy sources.
Joanna Fiedler
(1) Greening Government Third Annual report 2001, the Green Ministries Committee