Boycott the Big Six – Join our fight against fracking
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We’ve always been an energy company with a conscience, but when we heard some staggering statistics about fracking recently, we knew we had to act. It’s almost unbelievable that while government data says just 16% of us are in favour of fracking, more than half of us are actually supporting it through our energy bills.
That’s why we launched our Boycott the Big Six campaign – to let people in Britain know that they could be supporting the most unpopular energy source ever, just because of who their energy supplier is.
It’s a depressing thought: the majority of Brits unwittingly support fracking by getting their energy supplied by one of four ‘Big Six’ companies – British Gas, EDF, E.ON and Scottish Power – who either invest in or say they support fracking. The final two, npower and SSE, are complicit by not coming out against fracking.
It isn’t just the ‘Big Six’ backing fracking either – there are smaller independent energy companies who have yet to condemn it.
Only 16% of Brits actually support fracking – and that’s according to the government’s own data (Business & Energy Department 2018).
With exploratory drilling now underway at potential sites in Derbyshire and Northumberland – the need for action is more urgent than ever. Our Boycott the Big Six campaign will let Brits know where their energy comes from, and the need to stand up to fracking, even if it isn’t on their doorstep.
We’ve launched a new People:Power fund too – with the aim of providing financial support for grassroots anti-fracking campaigns and community groups so that they can better battle fracking. The more people who join us as part of our Boycott the Big Six campaign, the more we’ll be able to give to those fighting fracking in Britain.
We’ve been helping anti-fracking groups, donating equipment and funding legal cases since 2012, but we’re hoping to do even more now that the threat is growing.
One of the most recent things we’ve done is to fund the hire of a sophisticated gas detection camera to scan for dangerous gases when fracking begins.
Here’s what our founder, Dale, had to say:
“One of the most effective protests of my time was the South African boycott – it ended apartheid because people chose not to support the regime with their food bills. We’re calling for the same approach to our energy bills – the vast majority of us don’t want fracking. In that case, we need to stop unwittingly supporting it with our bills.
"We have an alternative to fracking – making gas from grass – it’s renewable, carbon neutral and would be a huge new industry for the country, improving our energy independence while keeping fossil fuels in the ground where they belong.”
You can get more information about our Boycott the Big Six campaign here.
If your friends or family join Ecotricity from this link, we’ll donate money to the People:Power fund to fight fracking in Britain.
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