Changing the company who supplies your gas and electricity is a lot easier than it might seem at first. In fact as far as something so ingrained in the household goes, it can be simply a matter of getting in touch with the right people; phoning the gas or electricity company in question, or getting in touch with third parties.

Knowing how to start choosing who you’d want to change to, though, is a bit of a different matter. That, of course, requires research and asking a few fundamental questions.

Think about the following:

• Are You Looking Simply to Save Money?
• Is Improved Customer Service on the Agenda?
• Does Sustainability Matter?
• Are You Trying to Reduce the Amount of Energy You Use?

If the first question is the only relevant one, then any energy price comparison websites will do the trick; just punch in the relevant information and compare prices.

The second question would understandably require a little more detective work, and one that online comparisons can’t offer you; it would need to involve talking to companies, getting a feel for their representatives. The comparison aspect of things can nonetheless narrow down the companies that one would be willing to go through that process with.

Questions three and four are in some ways the same question; its hard to be sustainable without also – incidentally or not – reducing the amount of energy you use.

We’ll look at this in more detail, then.

Green Energy Tariffs, Sustainability and Reducing Energy

With the clue in the name, green energy tariffs provide electricity and gas through sources that are eco friendly. This can range from solar and hydroelectricity and tidavel and wave power, to wind and solar energy.

Sometimes, too, it includes biofuels and according to some definitions, nuclear.

Using renewable energy sources is about sustainability and about reducing CO2 emissions, but it can often prove more efficient and use less energy.

If you’re after sustainability or using less energy in particular, then, a green energy tariff is a better place to go.a lot of gas and electricity comparison websites will include green energy tariffs in their searches, but sometimes its hard to know quite how ‘green’ these green energy tariffs are.

Some would argue for example, that biofuel and nuclear are controversial members of the renewable family, and not be willing to include them in the green energy equation.

Equally, some companies will posit a tariff as ‘green’ even if it contains less than 50% renewable energy sources in its fuel mix.

Ecoswitch supports the only 100% renewable energy fuel mix green energy tariffs in the country, so that these traps aren’t a problem. You can find them at the Ecoswitch Green Energy Tariff Comparison section, including a quick form that allows you to switch to one of those tariff, if needs be.

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There are plenty of energy companies out there, and each offers it service in a variety of ways; the price will differ, certainly, but so too will the way in which they generate gas and electricity for their customers. what follows is a short introduction to the genuine green credentials of some of the UK’s leading energy companies.

What Do We Mean by Fuel Mix?

An energy companies fuel mix is denoted by the combination of sources they use to make fuel for their gas and electricity. So it might come from coal, nuclear power, natural gas, or renewables like solar energy, wind energy, wave power, tidal power or hydroelectricity.

In terms of green electricity, quite simply the more renewables in the mix, the better.

Major Energy Suppliers

The vast bulk of energy suppliers now make sure to publicise their affiliations with green energy and renewable energy sources. Even if they don’t offer green energy tariffs – which a good number of the major gas and electricity companies don’t – they will still detail at great length in green initiatives that the company might undertake.

British Gas, for example, have set up Green Streets of which the website reads:

“British Gas has made £2m available as part of the Green Streets programme, to invest in innovative energy projects in Great Britain’s communities. We are encouraging local residents, businesses and community groups to apply to Green Streets with their project ideas that will help them to save and generate energy locally as well as engaging their wider community, with a chance to win a further £100,000 at the end of the competition“.

Such initiatives are of course designed with corporate responsibility publicity in mind as much as they’re about genuine green endeavours; a look at the fuel mix for British Gas shows that only 6.2% of their energy comes from renewable sources. That’s one of the worst mixes in the UK in terms of green energy, but British Gas aren’t alone in that; most of the major companies have made little headway when it comes to introducing renewable energy into their fuel mix.

In fact none of the major companies – including E.On and EDF Energy – have introduced more than 15% renewable energy into their fuel mix.

The Green Energy Suppliers

This is where the Green Three, the UK’s most famous green energy suppliers, come in. With a name like the Green Three one would expect a bigger commitment to renewable energy sources in the fuel mix. And indeed the three don’t disappoint.

Leading in this regard is Good Energy, whose fuel mix is 100% renewable, making them unique in the UK. Ecotricity and Green energy – who make up the Green Three along with Good Energy – contain respective mixes of 37.4% and 32% renewable energy.

This might not seem all that more green than other energy supplies, but the percentage is on consideration, quite notably higher. The most important thing, though, is to note that both Green Energy and Ecotricity, along with Good energy for obvious reasons, offer energy tariffs that are comprised of 100% renewable energy fuel mixes.

Whilst Ecotricity and Green Energy aren’t able to offer that across the board yet, then, the trio of the Green Three have made sure that in the UK 100% renewable energy tariffs are available, making them stand out from conventional energy companies.

For more information on the Green Three, their tariffs, and switching to them as suppliers of gas or electricity, visit the Ecoswitch Green Energy Comparison section.

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Another piece of energy jargon, the Economy 7 Energy meter is worth knowing about: used the right way, it can save a household heaps of cash.

What is  an Economy 7 Energy Meter?

An Economy 7 Energy Meter charges for gas and electricity at different rates according to the time of day; at night the rate is minimal, during the day much higher. The thinking is that the energy we use during the day is mostly unnecessary; most people are out of the house during the day, and even when we’re not, day time is bearable without excessive heating.

During winter, of course, heating is needed at night. The Economy 7 Energy Meter encourages that by making night time rates much cheaper, saving energy and saving money.

Does the Economy 7 Energy Meter Really Save Money?

That depends. Used in the right way, it certainly will. If you’re a family with kids out of the house all day, and jobs that keep you in the office from 8 til 8, then of course the Economy 7 energy Meter is a no-brainer. But then, if you work from home, and might be in all day – with computers on, no less – then the Economy 7 might not be for you.

Its also imperative to remember that any heat or electricity you do want during the day will have to be accounted for at night; it does mean that baths and showers are practically a no go in the evening. In other words, Economy 7 Energy Meters can save a lot of money, but only with a lot of planning. If planning isn’t your bag, then the Economy 7 probably isn’t either.

Economy 7 Energy Meters – The Pitfalls

With the Economy 7 Energy Meter its important to remember that using it in the wrong way doesn’t just mean you won’t save any money, it also means that you could stand to spend more. In other words, using the Economy 7 Energy Meter during the day could incur pretty steep costs; the main down side of the Economy 7 is that the discounts offered at night are offset by much higher prices during the day.

Any savings made on the meter are going to be the result of correct use, then. Nonetheless, the Economy 7 Energy Meter is well worth a look for anyone looking to save some money on their gas and electricity bills.

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For something so integral to our daily lives, gas and electricity and the stuff that goes on around them can be needlessly complicated. What follows is a quick guide to the jargon, then, and a little on benefits and things to be wary of or avoid.

Brown Electricity

The nickname given to conventional energy – traditionally taken fro coal-fired power stations and the burning of fossil fuels – by green energy companies and green energy supporters. Most people use ‘brown’ electricity; its what you get from a standard energy tariff.

Green Energy Tariffs

With a green energy tariff the energy supplied to a home is created through renewable technology. These include solar and wind power, plus hydroelectricity and wave and tidal power. Some companies also use biofuels, but these are less accepted; some consider them closer to ‘brown’ electricity.

In looking at green energy tariff’s its important to look at the tariff’s fuel mix in order to ensue that what you’re getting is truly green.

Dual Fuel Tariffs and Capped Tariffs

A lot of companies will offer a service that combines gas and electricity on one bill. This can be more convenient for the customer but also the supplier, so discounts can often be found on dual fuel tariffs; the companies that provide them are ore than happy to have a customer on two counts, even at a discount.

Capped energy tariffs set a cost for gas and electricity over a set period of time. During that time, customers aren’t affected by price rises. Because of that, a capped tariff can sometimes be a little more expensive.

Online Sign-up and Online Billing

Does exactly what it says on the tin: in the first case the tariff is chosen online and the second all bills are viewed online instead of sent as letters. This saves the provider money and some of that saving is transferred to the customer in terms of discount on the sign up or the continued use of online billing.

Economy 7 Energy Meters

Splitting your energy usage between day and night, Economy 7 Energy Meters are designed to be cheaper during night time hours, and the rate at which you’re charged in those hours is lower. Perfect for some, not so much for others, the Economy 7 Energy Meter is a good way to save energy, nonetheless, and benefits a good few in terms of cost, depending on lifestyle.

Top-Up Prepayment Meters

Like the mobile phones of old (that most of us still use – admit it) these energy meters work according to top-up and credit. Once topped up, the meter simply runs down towards zero, until its topped up again. The obvious benefit is that it allows a household to keep an eye on what it spends, as it spends it.

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Home energy comes from a variety of sources; generated as gas and electricity, it can nonetheless find its origins in coal, nuclear power, solar power, wind energy, hydroelectricity, wave power and tidal power, as well as biofuels. Fuel mix, then, is the different energy sources from which a company generates its gas and electricity for use in its energy tariffs.

With conventional electricity companies, it is arguably less important to understand the fuel mix that constitutes a household’s gas and electricity; it will come mostly from coal. But with green energy tariffs and those that are interested in reducing their CO2 emissions, and tackling climate change global warming, fuel mix can be of tremendous importance.

There are plenty of companies that claim to offer green electricity, that aren’t all that green. This is precisely where fuel mix is important; if a company offers green electricity but only 15% of its tariff comes from renewable energy like wind and solar power, its not really too green at all.

When looking at switching to green energy tariffs, then, its importance to be mindful of the fuel mix.

100% Renewable Fuel Mix with the Green Three

At current there are only three companies that offer a reliable and guaranteed 100% renewable energy fuel mix. Those are Green Energy, Good Energy and Ecotricity.

At current, they’re the UK’s leading companies for green energy companies for precisely that reason; other companies offering ‘green tariffs’ have substantially less green energy in their fuel mixes. Ecotricity, Green Energy and Good Energy aren’t quite using 100% renewable energy in all their tariffs just yet, but they are nonetheless the only companies that offer tariffs which fulfil that need.

Further, they’re the companies leading the race to attain that allusive goal of 100% renewable energy in 100% of their tariffs. Ecotricity has come on leaps and bounds:

In just four years we have more than doubled the proportion of green electricity in our mix to nearly 50%. Last year, in difficult market conditions, we still hit an increase of 8%, twenty times the average of all the other energy companies! All suppliers are set a target to increase the amount of renewable they supply by just over 1% a year. Most fail to achieve this lowly target. They don’t do renewables or green issues with any passion or seriousness, they’re just doing the minimum they have to … Less than in fact! The average for Great Britain’s energy companies is 5.9%, a rise of only 0.4% since last year (2007/08).

Our ultimate goal is 100% green electricity sourced from our own turbines but this is a moving target … We’re all on a journey from Brown to Green, it’s not the percentage that counts, but the rate of change that’s being made. Forward the revolution“.

Good energy and Green Energy, it is to be sure, are the ones next in line, and will continue in their efforts. If you’d like more detailed information on the respective fuel mixes of the UK’s gas and electricity suppliers, take a look at the Ecoswitch fuel mix chart.

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If green energy is your bag then Ecoswitch is the place for your energy needs. Through our Green Energy price and tariff comparison section we provide details on availability and cost for the UK’s genuinely eco friendly green energy tariffs; supporting the UK’s only 100% renewable energy tariffs, Ecoswitch focuses on the Green Three companies, Good energy, Ecotricity and Green Energy.

Switching with Ecoswitch is simple and a matter of providing some very quick information. Put in your postcode, and give an estimate of your monthly or yearly gas and electricity usage – Ecoswitch gives three bands; low at £20pcm medium at £35pcm or high at £50pcm – and receive information on comparative prices for 100% renewable energy tariffs.

Of course if you want a more specific figure, you can input the yearly cost of your bill, and compare green energy tariffs directly and specifically.

Switching to A Green Energy Tariff Once you’ve Compared

Of course Ecoswitch would be of little use to the budding green energy switcher if it couldn’t do the switching part for you. To that end, the Green Energy section also allows interested parties to switch to one of the green energy tariffs on offer, after comparing prices.

From there its just a case of entering details, and Ecoswitch will make sure everything ends up as it should be.

Why Make the Switch?

Most people who make the switch to a green energy tariff do so as a result of combined financial and environmental benefits. Whichever comes higher in their own reckoning isn’t all to important, though green energy tariffs can be comparatively cheaper. Nonetheless, if you’re going for the environmental benefits then any financial benefits are simply going to be a bonus, and vice versa; coming to a green energy tariff for monetary reasons is no shameful thing, and thankfully environmental issues are no longer just the domain of so-called ‘hippies’.

These days, environmental concerns are perfectly mainstream, and plenty of people of all kinds of backgrounds and with various reasons, are switching to green energy tariffs or getting involved in environmentally-based initiatives.

Why the Green Three?

Ecoswitch went with the Green Three because of the guarantees over genuine renewable energy in their fuel mix. Sticking with only the greenest in energy providers means that Ecoswitch is in a position to guarantee the ethical benefits afforded by green energy tariffs to those who go through the Ecoswitch website.

That’s not to say that you have to go with a 100% renewable energy mix; if whatever reason you chose to go for a lower mix, that’s possible too. But the presence of 100% renewable energy tariffs from those Green Three energy companies makes for more confidence surrounding their use of ‘brown’ electricity, and their ability to provide simply 100% renewable energy tariffs to all, at low cost, in the future.

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There can come a time when a household thinks about changing the way it runs things. Be it the stress around throwing out the 1970s cooker, changing the wallpaper in the spare room and still leaving time to redo the tiles in the bathroom, or changing phone companies, we’ve all seen – normally both as children watching parents and then as head of the households ourselves – that time and again things in a house come to change.

Often, though, a household is slow to change its gas and electricity provider. It seems that something which feels so fundamental to the way a house runs can’t be so easily tampered with; like its part of the fixtures of the home. As a result plenty of people stay with gas and electricity companies that charge them over and above what they could be saving elsewhere.

In fact, switching gas and electricity companies is simple and easy.

Why to Switch to a Green Energy Tariff

Switching might be easy, but choosing could be more difficult. At the moment there are more things to consider than simply the cost; as is so apparent from the wealth of media, global warming and climate change are grave problems. The international Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in December is looking to secure global solutions to the problem, but governments are also encouraging individuals to save what they can on their own scale.

Now its pretty accepted that a lot of energy can be wasted in the home.  Energy saving measures have been pushed as a result: using the heating less often, keeping things turned off at the mains. But less publicised is the use of tariffs that make use of energy and produces little to no CO2 emissions at all.

Such tariffs, generally known as green energy tariffs, work with fuel mixes that encourage the use of green electricity and renewable energy sources. Reducing CO2 emissions by introducing green electricity into the energy they provide, some even offer 100% renewable energy tariffs, cutting out CO2 emissions in everything but production.

Cutting CO2 emissions is an important factor to consider when looking at changing gas and electricity providers, and in cutting cost; green energy tariffs, though, will often cut cost as well as CO2 emissions.

How to Switch to a Green Energy Tariff

Switching is a matter of getting in touch with the right company, who will do the rest of the work for you. Finding the right company can be a little more tricky: Ecoswitch takes care of that part. Have a look at comparing the costs of green energy tariffs at the Ecoswitch Green Energy comparison section.

There you can take a look at different tariffs as well as switch your provider itself.

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Saving energy at home can be beneficial to both bank accounts and CO2 emissions. We all know the familiar story: undue and unnecessary energy consumption in the home is a large but also unneeded contributing to global warming and the problem of climate change. And the reason energy use in the home is so often attacked? Most of the energy we use can be cut down; turning lights off when we leave the room, switching appliances off instead of leaving them on standby, not heating the house 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Most people understandably though come to save energy when they’re looking to save money; when that gas and electricity bill comes through that’s just that little bit gratuitous and it seems like the right the time to cut down on energy use and slash part of that untimely and unwanted energy bill.

Cutting energy to save on cost also helps reduce CO2 emissions of course, so wanting a better deal on gas and electricity prices is no selfish act.

Green Energy Tariffs – Cutting Energy, Cutting Cost

One way of cutting cost, and then reducing CO2 emissions dramatically, is to look at switching to a green energy tariff. There are a growing number of green energy tariffs around, including some from the UK’s most well known gas and electricity companies.

Those companies tend to use a mixture of green electricity and ‘brown’ electricity, though, so if cutting CO2 emissions is your bag, its better to go for a green energy tariff from companies like Good Energy, Ecotricity or Green Energy, who offer 100% renewable energy tariffs.

A 100% renewable energy tariff is made up of energy garnered from sources such as wind power, solar energy, and wave and tidal power. With Ecotricity in particular, it is made up strongly from wind power.

As a further benefit, green energy tariffs can often work out cheaper than what’s currently being paid for a gas and electricity tariff with other companies. As green energy grows, the cost is expected to drop further, meaning that green energy tariffs should get more and more popular.

Comparing Green Energy Tariffs and Comparing Prices

Of course anyone reading this will want to check out that claim for themselves. There are plenty of places that compare energy prices and green energy tariffs; one place to start is Ecoswitch. Hop on over to the Ecoswitch Green Energy pages, where details on cost and availability for green energy tariffs are presented according to postcode.

And one final thing: fear not! Ecoswitch deals only with those three companies offering 100% renewable energy, so that cutting the cost on electricity and gas bills will always mean cutting CO2 emissions, too. Peace of mind, for sure.

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Green energy tariffs are fast moving from a position as an alternative to more conventional energy tariffs to a part of the mainstream energy industry in their own right. The 100% renewable green energy tariffs of Good Energy, Green Energy and Ecotricity are particularly popular choices because beginners and experts alike know that there’s no chance of a ‘greenwash’; with all the energy coming from sources like wind power and solar power, anyone interested in reducing their CO2 emissions, contributing to sustainable energy and fighting climate change can feel safe in the knowledge that they’re really making a difference with these green energy tariffs.

How to Switch to a Green Energy Tariff

In the words of Ecotricity, “The biggest step you can take is probably also the easiest”.

There are plenty of ways to switch to a green energy tariff, including getting in touch with the companies themselves; the Green Three of Good Energy, Green Energy and Ecotricity listed above are a good place to start. Each will help in their way to explain how you can switch to their own respective green energy tariffs.

Other companies will do the work of searching for you; there are plenty of websites in the across the hyperspace void that will search for, compare, and give information on various green energy companies and green energy tariffs, including a tariffs with a variety of fuel mixes; some may include ‘brown’ energy, though.

Green Energy Tariffs Compared – Switching with Ecoswitch

Ecoswitch are precisely one of those nice companies. Supporting the Green Three particularly, Ecoswitch can provide information on green energy tariffs anywhere in the UK, focusing particularly on the availability of Green Energy, Ecotricity and Good Energy.

Simply pop in a postcode and some details about the amount of energy the household consumes, and Ecoswitch can give costs and availability for green energy tariffs in that postcode’s area. Easy. And it only takes five minutes. For more info, check out the Green Energy Tariff Comparison.

Sustainable Tariff from the Green Three – Why Ecoswitch Deals with Them

Plenty of companies offer comparisons of all kinds of services, and there are a number that offer energy or tariff comparison. Ecoswitch, though, wants to make sure it only deals with genuine, ethical green energy tariffs ands so supports the Good energy, Green energy and Ecotricity green energy tariffs, as the major companies in the UK that offer 100% renewable energy fuel mixes.

With that in mind its Ecoswitch’s hope that people can feel safe and trust the knowledge that they’re getting a new energy tariff that genuinely reduces CO2 emissions, is sustainable, and helps against the problem of global warming.

Any questions on that? Please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

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Where the leading green energy companies have found their niche and gained steadily in popularity is in their ability to make a truthful a claim that the core of the business is ethical; they’re about saving the planet as much as about saving money for their customers, and about making money for themselves.

Certainly the Green Three – Ecotricity, Good Energy and Green Energy are focused on sustainability: using only green energy sources like solar energy, wind energy, hydroelectricity and wave power, this new breed of energy companies are trying to make sure that the energy they produce and they way that the produce it can last for many, many years to come.

Brown Electricity, the Depletion of Coal and Why Green Energy is the Future

Green Energy companies distinguish themselves from ordinary energy companies by distancing themselves from what they have termed ‘brown’ energy; energy that damages the planet and generally speaking releasing high levels of CO2. This of course includes conventional electricity, generated by coal-fired power stations.

The distancing from that type of energy from green energy companies, though, is twofold; once again the issue comes back to sustainability. Coal reserves are not only finite, but depleting at rapid rates according to some critics. With that in mind, governments, think tanks and activists, including those at companies like Good Energy, Green Energy and Ecotricity, have taken an increasing interest in providing energy in a sustainable way.

where governments are slow on the uptake the Green Three have already made leaps and bounds: providing 100% renewable green energy tariffs to those who want them, Green Energy, Ecotricity and Good Energy are already doing what the government is perhaps aiming to do in providing green electricity that is totally sustainable.

Green Energy and the Climate Change Problem

Sustainability might be one watchword, but CO2 reduction is just as integral to the green energy aim. Ecotricity explains in its own terms the need for solid green energy tariffs on their website. they write as follows:

“The Met Office has recently confirmed that the UK experienced the warmest year on record in 2006, with an average temperature of 9.7°C – 1.1 degrees Celsius above average. In order to prevent the most severe effects of climate change we need to curb emissions of CO2 and other harmful gasses to levels well below that of today. Electricity generation from conventional sources is responsible for 30% of the UK’s carbon emissions making it the single largest contributor“.

As much as remaining sustainable, then, green energy tariffs are about reducing carbon emissions and keeping them low once they have been reduced.

Supporting Green Energy

Showing support for green energy, sustainability and reducing CO2 emissions is very simple. Ecoswitch runs a comparison of green energy tariffs from the UK’s Green Three, and supports them wholeheartedly in their providing sustainability and carbon reduction to the UK. If you want to support green energy by switching to a green energy tariff, you can do it via the Ecoswitch website.

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