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Looking for the best green energy suppliers in the UK? Wondering what your options are for switching green energy suppliers? You have come to the right place! We've put together a comprehensive guide to green energy suppliers UK and prepared our unbiased list of green energy providers to help you understand the difference between who is green and who is not so green. Read on to find the full list of green energy suppliers UK, comparisons, and more.
The answer to this question is quite complex. Many UK energy suppliers appear to be green energy suppliers at first glance but actually use fossil fuels through a complicated loophole process to appear greener than they actually are. This process is called greenwashing, and it can make it quite difficult to spot whether a company is actually a green energy provider or not. However, there are several authentically green energy suppliers in the UK that generate all of their electricity from carbon-free energy sources.
Looking for a list of green energy suppliers? Further below, we have put together a full list of green energy suppliers UK to help you know which companies are actually green. Click here to skip ahead.
You can find out if your provider is actually a green energy supplier or is simply greenwashing their energy by looking at the "fuel mix" information. The fuel mix is a chart that details how much of the energy the supplier sells comes from coal, gas, nuclear, renewable, and other sources, allowing you to understand how environmentally friendly they are.
Before we go any further, it's important to have a baseline for understanding how we created our list of green energy suppliers UK. Let's take a look at what green energy is so that we can properly learn to identify green energy suppliers that are doing their part to save the environment.
Green energy is energy that comes from renewable power sources, such as wind, solar, and tidal and does not come from fossil fuels like oil or coal.
Sometimes people confuse green energy with renewable energy because renewable power sources are used to create green energy, however not all renewable energy sources are 100% green.
Below we explain how to tell the difference between green energy providers and providers that use renewable energy but aren’t green. We’ll also explain how these two are both different from clean energy.
It may not surprise you that not all green energy providers are the same, as some companies claim to be greener than they really are. Some green energy providers use greenwashing to make their dirty energy appear green, while others use 100% renewable energy. Let’s break down the different types of energy to get an understanding of what it means to be a true green energy provider. Below we explain the different meanings of:
Renewable energy refers to energy that is constantly being replenished. In this case, the source is not finite, such as oil, gas, and coal which are limited resources. (Once they are used, they are gone.) Renewable energy usually comes from solar, wind, hydroelectric and tidal energy. These energy sources are constant, infinite and unlimited. They also do not harm the environment. Therefore, it is possible for green energy suppliers to use renewable energy.
Green energy suppliers use energy that was created using renewable resources but combines the idea that the renewable source they used is green and not harmful to the environment. For example, some hydroelectric plants are created by clearing forests and damming rivers. These have harmful effects on the environment and wildlife in the area, therefore suppliers using hydroelectric would not be considered green energy providers.
Clean energy refers mainly to the lack of emissions into the atmosphere during energy generation. Nuclear energy is a good example for defining clean energy because while it’s not green, nuclear energy harms the environment through nuclear graveyards and radiation. Therefore while not renewable or green, nuclear energy is considered clean energy because it does not release emissions into the atmosphere, as opposed to coal and other fossil fuels which are highly polluting.
As mentioned before some companies that claim to be green energy suppliers greenwash their energy, or make it look green when it actually is not. This is called greenwashing. Greenwashing happens through a complicated legal loophole involving Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin certificates, also known as REGO certificates.
REGOs are certificates issued by Ofgem, the UK energy regulator, and attempt to guarantee the origin of renewable energy. One REGO certificate is offered to green energy suppliers for every 1 megawatt of renewable energy that is generated. However, REGOs can also be sold, with or without the green energy for which they were issued.
This means that it is possible to sell energy from fossil fuels with a REGO certificate that was issued for generating green energy. This practice sadly only keeps the UK polluting and hinders the green energy transition.
With the REGO certificate, companies can sell dirty energy, or fossil fuel energy, and claim to be green energy suppliers as they have also purchased a REGO. For this reason, it is important to check the fuel mix of energy companies to make sure that they are in fact green energy suppliers.
If you’ve made it this far, then you are probably wondering: who are the real green energy suppliers in the UK? To help you out, we have investigated and compiled the real list of green energy suppliers which have been vetted for selling authentically green energy.
Remember, this means that these suppliers are both renewable and green.
The list is broken down into the following categories:
Green Energy UK
Green Energy UK provides 100% green energy, which means that the electricity & gas they sell are both 100% green. Green Energy UK provides 100% biogas made from the anaerobic digestion of animal waste. This means that while their gas is green, it is not vegan, like Ecotricity’s biogas. However, the tradeoff is that you receive 100% biogas as a Green Energy UK customer. This is major as biogas in the UK is still quite hard to come by. Green Energy UK also only uses hydroelectric power that is generated in areas where migrating fish are protected.
Bulb Energy
Bulb Energy is a larger provider that is making waves in the UK energy market due to its low prices. Bulb makes the list as one of the top green energy suppliers as it offers 100% green electricity produced from renewable sources and also has a gas mix that is 48% green gas, or biogas. Bulb also offsets its carbon emissions, which is a major step in the right direction, despite still using 52% natural gas in their gas mix.
Pure Planet
Pure Planet is another of our semi- green energy suppliers. 100% of the electricity they provide comes from renewable energy sources, and they offset 100% of the gas you use as their customer. They also offer a 10% biofuel gas mix available upon request. However, if you don’t request this, 100% of the rest of their gas is sourced from frack-free natural gas.
Good Energy
Good energy sources 100% of its electricity from renewable sources and uses a mix of biogas and natural gas for its gas supply. While only 6% of Good Energy’s gas supply comes from biogas, this is considerably higher than most other green energy suppliers in the UK. They also offset the rest of your gas use. For this reason, they make our list of green energy suppliers UK as a semi- green energy supplier.
Ecotricity
Ecotricity provides 100% green electricity, and 1% of their gas mix is from biogas. While this is not much, it's a step in the right direction. Ecotricity makes our list of green energy suppliers UK as it is working toward adding 100% green gas and electricity, and currently supplies partly green gas. Another added benefit is that all of their energy is vegan and cruelty-free.
Octopus Energy
Octopus energy provides 100% renewable electricity, meaning that their electricity is green. However, Octopus still uses fossil fuels for their gas. This makes Octopus Energy another of our semi- green energy suppliers. On the plus side, they use carbon offsetting to offset the gas you use as a customer. Bear in mind that Octopus Energy also supplies Co-op Energy. Therefore, Co-op Energy has the same energy mix as Octopus.
British Gas Evolve
Surprisingly, British gas has come a long way when it comes to green energy. While most British Gas tariffs use Nuclear energy, which is not necessarily green, British Gas Evolve offers tariffs with 100% green electricity & carbon neutral gas. The gas they use is sourced from fossil fuels, which makes it dirty, however, they do offset the carbon emissions from the gas and also plant 5 trees for every year you are with them as a customer. For this reason, we rank British Gas Evolve quite high on the list as of of the semi- green energy suppliers UK.
Together Energy
Together Energy provides 100% renewable electricity from wind and hydro, and while their gas still is not green they have committed to offsetting 100% of its gas by 2023. Although this doesn’t truly count as a fully green energy supplier, they have made the list of green energy suppliers UK as their electricity is 100% green.
Outfox the Market
Outfox the Market offers 100% green electricity produced from wind farms. While their electricity is green, they do not offer any green gas, and they also do not offset any of their energy. Therefore we have ranked them low on the list of green energy suppliers UK.
So Energy
So energy is another of the green energy suppliers that offer 100% green electricity but has no offer for green gas or biogas. So energy also do not offset their carbon emissions, therefore they appear to be a company that is trying to be part of the green energy providers, but not yet succeeding.
Now it’s time to reveal which supplies make it to the top in terms of price and overall value.
To decide the best green energy suppliers in the UK we had to consider multiple factors: price, offer, and if their energy profile (gas and electric were truly green).
As your own personal preference regarding these variables may mean that the best green energy supplier UK for you is a different one from the one we chose, we have also made sure to break them down by variable, below.
Let’s find out who wins!
For us, Green Energy UK is the best green energy supplier in the UK as it sells 100% green energy. By this, we mean that Green Energy UK sells both 100% green electricity and 100% green gas (biogas). As it is the only supplier in the UK to be 100% green, we have ranked it at the top of the list as the best green energy supplier in the UK.
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Surprisingly, our research also shows that Green Energy UK comes in as the cheapest supplier when we carried out our green energy supplier comparison UK. We compared 12 green energy providers and their cheapest tariffs to the Ofgem price cap to find out which supplier was the cheapest.
Apart from being the greenest energy supplier, Green Energy UK’s cheapest tariff came out to being 10% lower than the Ofgem price cap. This is highly unusual for green energy suppliers, as they are legally allowed to charge over the price cap in exchange for supplying green energy.
Estimates based on a three-bedroom house in London with medium usage (2900 kwh/ year for electricity & 12000 kwh/year for gas)
Our research shows that Ecotricity is the most expensive green energy supplier in the UK. While it is common for providers to charge a bit over the price cap for green energy, Ecotricity’s cheapest tariff came in at 32% higher than the price cap, making it the most expensive green energy supplier in the UK. For us, this doesn’t make much sense, as Ecotricity doesn’t have one of the more competitive fuel mixes on the market. Therefore, we think you can find a better deal when searching for a green energy provider to reduce your bill.
As the name suggests, Green Energy UK is the greenest energy supplier in the UK. This is because both the electricity and gas they provide are from renewable energy sources. Green Energy UK also offsets 100% of the biogas that you use, meaning that not only are you using green energy, but you are also essentially helping further the cause of green energy by offsetting someone else's gas use and therefore reducing their carbon footprint as well.
On top of this, hydroelectric power can sometimes be renewable, but not green as it affects the habitats of wildlife in the area. Green Energy UK takes this into account and respects the wildlife by only supplying hydroelectric power generated in areas where migrating fish are protected. For these reasons, Green Energy UK makes the top of our list.
After filtering through the exhausting list of green energy suppliers UK, it is clear to see why it’s so important to compare green energy suppliers before making a decision. Since the types of green tariffs are so varied and so different, it’s important that the supplier you use matches your desired list of attributes.
To help you with this, we have created a table below with the results of Selectra’s green energy suppliers comparison. Hopefully, this will point you in the right direction and help you filter through the layers of differences between companies that say they are green energy suppliers and the companies that truly are.
|
Green Energy Suppliers |
PROS |
CONS |
PRICE |
|
British Gas Evolve |
|
|
13% higher than the Ofgem Price Cap |
|
Bulb Energy |
|
|
5% higher than the Ofgem Price Cap |
|
|
32% higher than the Ofgem Price Cap |
|
|
Good Energy |
|
|
6% higher than the Ofgem Price Cap |
|
|
10% lower than the Ofgem Price Cap |
|
|
Octopus Energy |
|
|
12% higher than the Ofgem Price Cap |
|
Outfox the Market |
|
|
14% higher than the Ofgem Price Cap |
|
|
24% higher than the Ofgem Price Cap |
|
|
So Energy |
|
|
24% higher than the Ofgem Price Cap |
|
Together Energy |
|
|
2% lower than the Ofgem Price Cap |
Estimates based on a three-bedroom house in London with medium usage (2900 kwh/ year for electricity & 12000 kwh/year for gas)
Switching to green energy suppliers should be quick and simple thanks to the UK being part of a deregulated market. This means that you can switch to any company you like. If you are looking for a truly green offer, we recommend switching to one of the green energy providers in our dedicated list of green energy suppliers UK (above).
If you aren’t fussed about where your gas comes from, then you can always request for your current provider to raise the amount of green electricity that your specific home uses. For example, you can switch to a greener tariff while staying with your same company.
If you are still confused about which offer is the best for you, consider contacting our call centre to speak to one of Selectra’s energy experts about the green energy suppliers we have on offer. One of our agents will surely be able to point you in the right direction.
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