How green is your electricity company?
Method of calculation
Figures calculated from total spend on new sources of renewable electricity 2004-2008 from www.whichgreen.org compared to an average green tariff bill of £376 per annum for 3300kWh of electricity over the same period. Customer figures from Ecotricity data over 5 years and OFGEM Sustainable Development Report 2008.
2007 League Table
| Rank | Supplier | £/ Customer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ecotricity | £555.36 |
| 2 | Powergen | £17.28 |
| 3 | Centrica | £7.12 |
| 4 | npower | £3.89 |
| 5 | EDF Energy | £3.55 |
| 6 | Scottish Power | £2.63 |
| 7= | Good Energy | £0.00 |
| 7= | Green Energy UK | £0.00 |
| 7= | Scottish & Southern Energy | £0.00 |
2006 League Table
| Rank | Supplier | £/ Customer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ecotricity | £275.00 |
| 2 | Scottish & Southern Energy | £27.86 |
| 3 | Centrica | £18.04 |
| 4 | Scottish Power | £11.59 |
| 5 | EDF Energy | £6.47 |
| 6 | npower | £4.00 |
| 7= | Good Energy | £0.00 |
| 7= | Green Energy UK | £0.00 |
| 7= | Powergen | £0.00 |
2005 League Table
| Rank | Supplier | £/ Customer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ecotricity | £117.19 |
| 2 | Scottish Power | £16.89 |
| 3 | npower | £14.31 |
| 4 | Scottish & Southern Energy | £3.81 |
| 5 | Centrica | £3.25 |
| 6= | EDF Energy | £0.00 |
| 6= | Good Energy | £0.00 |
| 6= | Green Energy UK | £0.00 |
| 6= | Powergen | £0.00 |
2004 League Table
| Rank | Supplier | £/ Customer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ecotricity | £901.64 |
| 2 | Powergen | £9.58 |
| 3 | npower | £7.20 |
| 4 | Scottish Power | £4.46 |
| 5= | EDF Energy | £0.00 |
| 5= | Green Energy UK | £0.00 |
| 5= | Good Energy | £0.00 |
| 5= | Scottish & Southern Energy | £0.00 |
They're all doing it, draping themselves in images of windmills and claiming green credentials – but how green are the UK's electricity companies really?
How much of what you see is spin and how much is real? That's a question we've asked ourselves often enough. And lately, with the ‘Big Six’ spending £millions on slick TV ads – this seems a more pressing question than ever.
The only way to judge who's really green and who's only saying they are?
Actually it’s quite simple.
Just look at how much each electricity company spends building new sources of green electricity each year – we call it New energy. The only green electricity that does anything to reduce CO2 emissions and our dependence on fossil fuels is the New kind, the stuff that gets built today and tomorrow. If you're not building you're not actually achieving anything green at all. It's just marketing and spin.
New sources of green electricity
We need more sources of Green Electricity in the UK, lots more. We need it to provide us with clean energy and a way to fight climate change. The only green electricity that actually does anything in either regard is the new kind - the stuff that gets built today, tomorrow and the next day. We call it New energy.
Many companies simply repackage green electricity that's been around for up to 50 years – buying or selling this has no impact on CO2 emissions, the fight against climate change or where the UK gets its energy. If you buy this stuff you simply take it from the person that used it before you – we call it robbing Peter to supply Paul.
We've produced a measure for spending on New Energy we call it ‘pounds per customer’ – it shows how much each electricity company actually spends, for each of it's customers on the new green stuff. It's a number that cuts through the fog of marketing and to the heart of the issue, irrespective of company size.
Pounds per customer spent on new sources of green electricity
Some energy companies are bigger than others of course, so the total they spend on building new green electricity sources is useful to know, but is not the whole story.
To get meaningful comparisons you need to simply see how much is spent per customer. This shows you how much of your electricity bill actually gets spent each year, building new sources of green. And how much of a difference you make by being with your supplier. It's that simple - We call it pounds per customer. And it's the acid test of green commitment. It's simple enough maths too - Just take the total number of customers each supplier has and divide that by their total spend on new green electricity sources in any given year. For the last 4 years we've been doing just this and publishing the results at whichgreen.org
These are the figures for 2008. Prepare to be surprised.
How the figures are calculated.
It’s very simple. We take the total number of customers each supplier has in any year and divide into that their total spending on building new sources of green electricity, in the same year. That gives spending in ‘pounds per customer’.
Customer numbers for each supplier are sourced from the suppliers own publications. Their expenditure on building new renewables comes either from them or (if they are unwilling to provide) from figures published by OFGEM (the industry regulator). OFGEM figures show the ownership, start date, and size of all new renewable generators in the UK, each year. We take the size figures and multiply them by the average cost to build - for that form of renewable generation − and that gives the total spent by each company (Our sources are Ofgem; BWEA; Enviros 2005).
And we give all suppliers the opportunity to comment on and correct our numbers. Then we publish.
The average spend of all electricity companies is the arithmetic mean of the spend per customer of all the other suppliers.
WhichGreen League Table |
|
|---|---|
| Supplier | £/Customer |
| Ecotricity | £401.49 |
| Scottish Power |
£102.66 |
| Centrica |
£38.00 |
| Scottish & Southern | £16.31 |
| EDF Energy | £10.69 |
| npower | £4.38 |
| E.On | £0 |
| Green Energy UK | £0 |
| Good Energy | £0 |
Who spent what in 2008
The table looks healthy this year with record investment from one of the Big Six, ScottishPower, who invested the majority of their £300 million total in just one wind farm. Of the small independents, Good Energy and Green Energy spent nothing.
Ecotricity spent over £400 per customer in the same year. A level of commitment to new build renewables no other electricity company comes near to.
The average spend of all electricity companies (excluding Ecotricity) was £26.51 per customer, a massive increase from last years average spend of just £7.47! But it's still not good enough. Based on 2008 investment figures, Britain will fail to meet even half of the EU's 2020 renewable energy target.
Was 2008 a fluke year, especially good or bad for any one company? Take a look at the last four years average spend and see for yourself.
How the figures are calculated.
It’s very simple. We take the total number of customers each supplier has in any year and divide into that their total spending on building new sources of green electricity, in the same year. That gives spending in ‘pounds per customer’.
Customer numbers for each supplier are sourced from the suppliers own publications. Their expenditure on building new renewables comes either from them or (if they are unwilling to provide) from figures published by OFGEM (the industry regulator). OFGEM figures show the ownership, start date, and size of all new renewable generators in the UK, each year. We take the size figures and multiply them by the average cost to build - for that form of renewable generation − and that gives the total spent by each company (Our sources are Ofgem; BWEA; Enviros 2005).
And we give all suppliers the opportunity to comment on and correct our numbers. Then we publish.
WhichGreen Five Year Average |
|
|---|---|
| Supplier | £/Customer |
| Ecotricity | £450.14 |
| Scottish Power | £27.65 |
| Centrica | £13.28 |
| Scottish & Southern | £9.61 |
| npower | £6.75 |
| E.On | £5.37 |
| EDF Energy | £4.14 |
| Green Energy UK | £0 |
| Good Energy | £0 |
The five year story
Interesting stuff. The Big Six range from £4.14 at the bottom end (dear old Nuclear EDF) to nearly £27.65 for Scottish Power at the top. And that’s it, none of them spending more than a tenner from each £400+ electricity bill they issue to their customers. And the small independents, consistently spend nothing – firmly at the foot of the table.
Ecotricity spent an average £450 in each of the last five years, for each customer. A vast difference.
The five year table pretty well defines the real commitment of each power company to green electricity. This is how they rank.
We can all have a bad year, or even two – but five years of data give the lie to claims of real green commitment – unless it is real.
Total Commitment
Year in, year out Ecotricity spends more per customer than the all other electricity suppliers in the UK put together – an awful lot more. We consistently spend more than a typical electricity bill, every year, for each of our customers, building New green energy sources. ‘Turning electricity bills into windmills’ is how we like to think of it. And there really is no greater change that you can bring with your electricity bill.
Meanwhile many of the Big Six spend more on TV advertising than they do on the real thing. And the small green electricity companies, who you’d expect to do better, or to do something (Green Energy and Good Energy) consistently spend nothing each and every year. They sit at the bottom of the commitment table with the French Nuclear giant EDF. How green (or Good) is that?
Want to fight climate change and increase the amount of green electricity in the UK? – you’ve just one electricity bill.
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Previous years' tables
Use your bill wisely
“The only credible model for customers investing in new wind projects via their bill payments comes from Ecotricity, which is continually building new wind turbines”
WWF’s Climate Chaos
Campaign Director