How committed are Britain’s suppliers to going green?

Two of the big six energy suppliers are supplying less renewable energy to customers year-on-year, so just how committed are Britain’s suppliers to going green?

Latest fuel mix disclosures released this month reveal exactly how much renewable energy providers are supplying households in this country. But, analysis by uSwitch.com reveals varying performance:

At the last count only 4.7% of Britain’s household energy supply was from renewable sources

Year-on-year renewable energy supplied to households has increased by only 0.5%

Ahead of the pack: Scottish and Southern Energy is leading the way in supplying its customers with renewable energy

Going backwards: two of the big six - npower and Powergen - are on a percentage basis supplying customers less renewable energy this year than last year

Going up in smoke: suppliers’ use of coal and gas has crept up, while nuclear has fallen.

The latest fuel mix disclosures, released earlier this month, reveal that two of Britain’s big six energy suppliers – npower and Powergen – are on a percentage basis supplying less renewable energy this year (06/07) than last year (05/06), according to uSwitch.com, the independent comparison and switching service.

The worst performer, npower, supplied customers 5% renewable energy in 05/06, but only 3% in 06/07. Only one other supplier saw its customers’ renewable energy supply go backwards – Powergen’s (E.ON UK) renewable levels slipped from 3.80% (05/06) to 3.60% last year.

However, npower produces 20% of all the UK’s electricity generated from wind farms and is the UK’s largest wind farm operator.

The latest disclosures show ScottishPower to be the second highest supplier of renewable energy at 6.8%, but also the highest user of coal. In 05/06, 47% of its fuel mix was taken up by coal, but this shot up to just over 55% (55.20%) last year. And it is not alone. The use of coal has gone up across the board – only Scottish and Southern Energy bucked the trend by decreasing its reliance on coal from 38.6% to 30.60% year-on-year.

Four of the big six also increased their CO2 emissions. Only two – Powergen and Scottish and Southern Energy – successfully reduced their CO2 levels. While Scottish and Southern Energy can attribute its good performance in part to its comparatively high historic reliance on hydro power, it has also recently announced plans to spend up to £600 million on cutting carbon emissions and investing in new environmentally friendly technology.

Aside from the Kyoto target, the UK aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 20% below the 1990 level by 2010 and to be on the way to cutting CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050. The energy industry has consistently been the biggest contributing source of carbon dioxide emissions in the UK (1990 – 2005).

Outside of the big six, there are two dedicated green energy suppliers entirely focused on the production and investment in renewable energy. Last year both Good Energy and Ecotricity far exceeded the amount of renewable energy supplied by the big six, achieving 100% and 24% respectively. For those consumers wishing to go that little bit further and looking for an energy company with a strong green ethos, these two might fit the bill.

Ann Robinson, Director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch.com, comments: “The latest fuel mix disclosures show that the energy industry is treading water on an issue where it should be setting the pace. Suppliers have got a huge role to play in the UK’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions. While some are supplying households with more renewable energy, the rest are either making little progress or going backwards. The industry has also increased its reliance on dirty fuels such as gas and coal and, as a result, has been unable to reduce its CO2 emissions, which are at a standstill.

“This will leave consumers confused over the industry’s genuine level of commitment. However, suppliers are required once a year to provide information about their fuel mix to their customers. Consumers should use this to judge for themselves how well their current supplier is doing and move to a different supplier if they don’t believe their current one is doing enough. Not only will this give consumers greater choice and control over where their energy comes from, but it may also be the incentive that some suppliers need to start taking their impact on the environment seriously.”