Eon ‘100% renewable’ announcement ‘may mislead’

Eon’s announcement that it will begin supplying 100 per cent renewable electricity has the potential to “mislead customers”, the boss of green supplier Ecotricity has claimed.

Instead the focus should be on building new renewable generation, Dale Vince said.

Writing a public post on Facebook Vince said while buying renewable energy guarantee of origin (REGO) certificates from existing generators and using them to claim they are now supplying green energy is “technically correct”, it does not produce “any kind of green outcome”.

“The problem with Eon’s move is its potential to mislead customers”, he said.

Each unit of renewable energy has a REGO and there is an estimated 30 per cent green energy currently on the grid.

Under Eon’s plans the company will supply a large proportion of energy through its own renewable generation fleet, as well as agreements with independent wind generators around the country to directly purchase the electricity produced.

The remaining electricity used by Eon’s customers is matched with 100 per cent renewable electricity sourced externally through initiatives such as renewable electricity guarantee certificates from the likes of wind, biomass and solar sources.

These certificates guarantee that an equivalent amount of renewable electricity was generated to the amount supplied.

Vince said: “Using REGO trading to become ‘100 per cent green’ is ok, but it’s pretty much a non-event in terms of green outcome.

“We are at 30 per cent now as a country but need to get to 100 per cent in perhaps the next ten years.

“Trading bits of paper from existing generation won’t get us there. Dressing this up as a big green move won’t help either. We need real action.

“Ecotricity operates a ‘bills into mills’ approach, using our customers’ energy bills to build new wind and sun mills – that’s the real outcome that we need and I think it’s what people might expect from a green tariff – something changes, something gets done.

“Eon have built new generation and they are not the only company trading REGOs – we do it too (all suppliers of green energy do it) – but it’s not any kind of green outcome – it’s important to distinguish.”

The electricity generated from Eon’s own renewable assets and supply agreements is currently enough to power almost 1.7 million homes – more than half of its electricity customer base.

A spokesperson told Utility Week: “As a company we have invested more than £3.3 billion in renewables over the last decade and currently manage a fleet of 21 onshore and offshore wind farms and two biomass plants.

“Eon built its first UK wind farm (on Anglesey) in 1992, was behind the UK’s first offshore wind farm (Blyth) in 2000 and was a partner in the London Array which, at the time, was the largest offshore wind farm in the world.

“This expertise set the foundations in the renewable market for the development of much more and we are now focused on using this expertise to help our customers make the change at small scale in their homes.

“We believe there is an appetite for an increasing amount of renewable electricity and by making this change we believe this will help drive renewable electricity in the market and help indicate to industry what customers value and where they want to see further investment.”