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Green Energy
Want to go Green but you're not sure how? Start helping the environment by getting your energy from renewable sources, most tariffs cost no more than what you’re paying already and you could even save money and enjoy extra benefits.
All energy suppliers are legally obligated to buy eight per cent of the electricity they supply from green, renewable sources that don’t burn fossil fuels or create carbon emissions. This means that although you can't stop using gas and electricity at home, by signing up to an environmentally friendly energy tariff you can do a little more to help save the planet.
Although the energy you use at home doesn’t come direct from a wind farm or solar panel, your provider will supply the national grid with renewable energy, and the national grid will then supply your home.
Green Energy Tariffs
Company
Package Name
Green Electricity
Green Gas
Discounts
Extra Costs?
Green Policies
Benefits
Go Green
Online Quote
100% renewable & carbon offsetting
500 Tesco Green Points
Juice
Up to £80 per year
Annual contribution of £10 per customer
-
Green Energy H2O
Up to £16.80 every year
Developing / implementing initiatives
You can donate annual discount
Zero Carbon
£7 per month
First green energy tariff with no carbon footprint
-
Last Updated: Thursday, 8-November-2007
E.ON (formerly known as Powergen)
E.ON offers a Go Green tariff for both gas and electricity and a duel fuel tariff if you want to take both. Signing up to Go Green means that E.ON will match all of your electricity usage with energy from renewable sources such as hydroelectricity and wind power.
They will also offset all the gas that you use by funding sustainable projects through Climate Care - an organization set up to offset CO2 emissions.
As a Go Green energy customer you’ll also be able to take advantage of special offers and discounts on energy efficient products offered by E.ON.
100 per cent renewable energy pumped into the national grid to match your usage
Projects to offset your carbon dioxide emissions
500 Tesco Green Clubcard points every year
Exclusive energy efficiency offers
Click here to visit E.ON Go Green and get an online quote.
npower
Juice, from npower allows you to source your gas and electricity from green energy without any extra cost. And if you sign up to both the gas and electricity tariffs and pay by direct debit, you’ll even get an £80 discount each year.
Like E.ON, npower will match all of your energy usage by purchasing the same amount from green energy sources - much of which is generated by the North Hoyle Offshore Wind Farm which has been generating Juice for npower since 2003. It also offers ways that you can make your own energy for your home; by installing solar panels, wind turbines and even small-scale hydro generators.
npower will also contribute £10 a year to the Juice Fund to assist in financing more renewable energy projects.
Up to £80 discount per year
Juice costs exactly the same as standard npower electricity
npower makes an annual contribution of £10 to the Juice Fund for every customer that stays on
The Juice Fund assists the development of other renewable energy projects
100 per cent renewable energy pumped into the national grid to match your usage
Click here to visit npower Juice and get an online quote.
Scottish Power
Scottish Power’s Green Energy H2O and Online Energy Saver 4 Green Energy Fund tariffs match your energy use with energy generated by the company’s hydro generators off the coast of Scotland at Lanark, Galloway and Cruachan.
Even Friends of the Earth have recognised their efforts. “The significance of Scotland’s hydro resource is often forgotten and we welcome Scottish Power’s Green Energy H20 tariff and the opportunity that this presents for consumers to choose to source their energy from a renewable tariff,” said the organisation’s Scottish arm.
Customers on the Green Energy H2O tariff can save up to £16.80 a year, while those who sign up to Online Energy Saver 4 Green Energy Fund can save £39.50 by opting for paperless billing and online account management - and could even qualify for an online Energy Service discount of £5.25 for electricity and £10.50 for gas, and the Green Energy H2O saving, on top - a total possible saving of £72.05.
Benefit from combined discounts of up to £72.05 each year
Customers can choose to donate their discount to Scottish Power’s Green Energy Fund to finance further renewable energy schemes
Scottish Power are the UK’s largest wind farm developer and plan to be able to power around 250,000 homes in coming years
100 per cent renewable energy pumped into the national grid to match your usage
Existing EDF customers concerned about the impact of their energy on the planet can switch to the Greenwise Tariff which costs no more than EDF’s Standard Domestic Tariff, but once signed up EDF will contribute the same amount of electricity that you use back into the national grid from renewable sources. It will also contribute £13.86 per year into its Green Fund to finance renewable energy projects.
Those not already with EDF can switch and sign up to its Green Tariff and will pay an additional £13.86 on top of their standard electricity costs. This goes directly to the Green Fund and EDF will match energy use as with Greenwise customers.
Both Greenwise and Green Tariff customers get a free home energy survey, a free energy efficiency guide and two free energy saving lightbulbs to get them started on the road to cleaner energy use.
Any customers wanting to do even more can also consider the Climate Balance tariff, which although it costs an extra £44 a year (£3.66 a month), will offset your carbon emissions by helping local communities and planting trees both in the UK and abroad.
If you’re already with EDF you can do your bit without incurring any extra charges
If you switch to EDF you only pay a small yearly surcharge for greener energy
Option to offset your carbon emissions
100 per cent renewable energy pumped into the national grid to match your usage
Scottish and Southern Energy
Scottish and Southern’s green tariffs take a more conservationist approach. As well as promising to match your energy usage by pumping renewable energy into the national grid, Scottish and Southern will donate money on your behalf to the RSPB.
If you join the RSPB Tariff as a duel fuel customer £20 will be donated (£10 per fuel) on joining and a further £5 per fuel for each year you stay on the tariff.
Going green with Scottish and Southern doesn’t cost you extra
Donations are given on your behalf to a known, trusted charity
100 per cent renewable energy pumped into the national grid to match your usage
Conservation rather than offsetting existing pollution
British Gas offers two different green energy tariffs; Future Energy for electricity and Zero Carbon which offers a duel fuel option. Rather than just committing to the eight per cent of green energy it has to supply by law, using its Zero Carbon tariff, British Gas will contribute 12 per cent.
British Gas customers signing up to these tariffs will pay a small surcharge to know that they are receiving greener energy, helping to fund renewable energy sources and even making Britain’s schools more environmentally friendly places to learn.
Future Energy customers pay an additional £2 a month (£24 a year) while Zero Carbon customers will pay £7 extra on their bills (£84 a year). But they will know that their money will be well spent as they’ll be getting the greenest tariff on the market - completely carbon neutral.
100 per cent renewable energy pumped into the national grid to match your usage
British Gas has done the most to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions according to WWF, with the lowest CO2 levels of any major supplier
