Apple Day 2019

Electricity suppliers

Given all the news recently about a Climate Emergency - that our planet is warming up more rapidly than thought, due to all the activities of humans, there is an urgent need to cut the greenhouse gases (carbon) we emit. Within the next 30 years - preferably sooner, we need to cut our 'carbon footprint' (the amount of carbon we all emit) by 80%.
 
That represents a massive change in the way we live and think. What's more, we need to start as soon as possible. So, where to start? What are the easy wins?

In this blog we look at the easiest option by far - changing your electricity supply to 100% renewable. All you need to do is select one of the suppliers below, who are the 14 UK suppliers who currently offer an entirely renewable tariff.



Cutting carbon
On Scilly the average house uses about 6700 kWh (units) of electricity per year (Reference). To translate this to carbon emitted, this depends on the amount of renewable electricity in your tariff:
 
100% renewable  0.63 tonnes CO2/year
21% renewable    2.49 tonnes CO2/year
12% renewable    2.70 tonnes CO2/year
(Ref: Farm Carbon Calculator)

The average UK carbon footprint per person is 9.1 tonnes CO2/person/year (Reference), so a standard electricity supply (based on an average of 2.1 people per house) will mean a roughly 10% reduction in carbon emissions - immediately.

 
How much will it cost?
The simple answer is - not much; in fact you may be saving money! 

The table below shows the costs (pence per kWh and annual standing charges) for different renewable tariffs. This can also be compared to the EDF and SSE standard (low renewable %) tariffs.

Switching energy suppliers should be a straightforward process.

Ethics

It's worth noting that, whilst all the above companies supply 100% renewable electricity, there is a difference in ethics between them. This is explored well in this Ethical Consumer article https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/energy/shopping-guide/gas-electricity. 

It really centres around how much the company is investing in its own renewables, and what the companies' core ethics are. 

However, in carbon terms, renewable is renewable!

In summary, changing to a renewable electricity supply is the quickest way to cutting 10% off your carbon emissions, often with very little - if any extra cost. So what are you waiting for?!