Want to slash your family's carbon footprint at minimal cost?

[ballbaby]

Good Energy is an electricity supplier that supplies 100% renewable energy. They don't use fossil fuels or nuclear power. On their website they say it costs an average family a few pounds more each month, but my direct debit went down when i moved to them.

Here is their website. You can sign up on-line.

This is a list that shows how the different suppliers compare.

I know i sound like their marketing department but I'm just a mum with small kids worried about GW!!!

Bump for you - I so agree with this.

Thanks for posting this, I've been thinking of changing supplier to a green one.

wish i could, when im working again i will, it pains me to not have the money to be more green in these areas!

Thanks for your interest - i think people think it's really expensive to do this and it puts them off - but it really isn't. Anyone else wanting to go greener?

ballbaby, it is miniaml, mine quoted at 8quid extra a month, but its 8quid i dont have, sigh!

ok fair enough. My direct debit actually went down when i moved to them - i think it's because i've become obsessed with energy saving! But at least you've looked into it - good for you.

Good Energy've just sent me a letter to say the price is going up, which i was a bit peed off about because renewable energy shouldn't rise because of increasing fossil fuel costs. Apparantly it's to fund renewable projects.

I'm pleased to say that my bills have gone up by a smaller percentage than my mum's carbon rich bills!

we're with green energy, and they've sent a letter saying that prices aren't going up. don't know how they compared in the first place, but i'm still glad to know our bill isn't rising...

ballbaby, have they explained why their charges are going up? I would ask - maybe they're not 100% green after all...?

I mean "it's to fund renewable projects" doesn't really explain why their costs are going up right now, at the exact same time as the non-renewables - surely they budget for funding renewable projects in their pricing?

I've re-read their letter and i think i understand this now....

Renewable electricity costs are set by the wholesale electricity markets and the green suppliers have to buy from this market and sell it to us. The price of electricity can change a lot in the short term, but Good Energy only buys and supplies energy from renewable sources. The price still fluctuates in the same way as non-renewable electicity. Good Energy support the development of renewable energy by committing to buy electricity from new projects e.g. if you buy a wind turbine for your domestic use they will buy any excess back off you. They also support much larger projects.

I'm confident this is as green a change as you can make, having read the National Consumer Council report on green suppliers.

The NCC state of Good Energy "For those consumers who want a green electricity supply, pure and simple, this is probably the closest they will get to it."

Thanks for this post, I have been using standard suppliers but 'green tariffs' and was somewhat skeptical about how much good that actually did. But I haven't got round to doing the research myself. So now I can switch to Good Energy with a clear conscience and minimal effort . That report certainly makes interesting reading...

Good for you mummypig . Let us know if you find it more expensive, or not.

we moved to Ecotricity a couple of years back. All renewable energy and non-proft making too - in that all profits are invested back into renewables.

Fantastic! In the NCC report (page 16) they get quite a good write up - Ecotricity supply 25% renewable energy and operate a wind farm.

Anyone else interested in cutting their carbon footprint?

Bumping

Sorry if you're sick of seeing this but i really think it's one of the greenest moves you can make! [waiting for the challenge]

Thanks for this ballbaby. We are just about to move but will use them when we find a new house.

Good for you. Nice to know there are some like minded people out there!

If anyone else is even slightly interested - please compare their prices - i think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

we use Good Energy
have found their service and prices very acceptable

Will give it a go - thanks

the green tariff market is complex. OFGEM are currently consulting on a set of guidelines that might help to make things simpler. at the moment it would be fair to say that Good Energy are probably the safest bet. They not only buy and sell 100% RE they also retire some of their ROCs which encourages the building of extra renewables capacity on the grid which is they key to this decision if your green energy provider trades more ROCs than it retires switch to a different one because this one is not investing in the construction of wind farms or hydro/tidal projects.

Hey we're on a roll tonight!

If two of you have decided to change that must be a good few tonnes of carbon less each year!

FaZ I agree about their service - very clear statements and some "uplifting" newsletters (on recycled paper of course).

God - just re-read my post, appalling grammar and punctuation. hope you made some sense of it. I'm a wee bit pissed actually. On my own for the night so taking the opportunity to unwind (ahem).

I have to say the retiring ROCs issue confuses me somewhat but the national consumer council seems to think from their research that Good Energy are "the closest thing you can get... to a green electricity supply" so that's good enough for me.

Here's the report if anyone wants to have a look.

Anyone else? - the more the merrier! You'll have my eternal respect ]