Energy FAQs
What is green electricity?
'Green' or 'renewable' energy comes from renewable sources like windfarms, solar panels, or hydro power, rather than 'brown' sources like coal, gas or nuclear. Green energy produces much, much less CO2 than brown energy, and its sources won't run out. The BBC website has some good information on renewables if you'd like to learn more.
Can I change my electricity if I’m renting, or is it something for my landlord?
If your electricity bill is in your name or one of your housemate’s names, you can switch.
If you decide to switch, you don’t need to communicate with your existing electricity provider - your new provider takes care of that. You’ll automatically receive a final bill from your current provider.
If your landlord takes care of the bills, you can’t switch, but you could send your landlord a link to the site and encourage them to switch. They can switch to green energy without signing up to the nag on this page.
What does switching involve?
Choose your supplier, go to their website and enter the details they ask for - it's usually just your contact details and bank details. Then that's it for you, they do the rest. They'll contact your existing supplier who will send you a final bill, then you'll start to receive bills from your new supplier. That's it. You don't need to re-wire your house or anything like that.
If I switch will the actual electrons in my wires come from green sources?
Not necessarily. The electricity that you buy will come from the nearest power station to you, via the grid. But the green energy company you switch to HAS to put into the grid as much electricity as you take out of it, and ensure that energy has been generated from green sources. So the change is at the system level: if 50% of people ask for green energy, 50% of electricity in the grid will have to have been generated from green sources (if those people have chosen 100% green tariffs).
I’ve got a pre-payment meter. Can I still switch?
Yes, with Good Energy. (For Ecotricity it’s very complicated.)
It’s actually really straight forward.
Call them on 0845 456 1640, tell them that you want green energy, that you’ve got a meter, and that you came from The Nag (this bit is important because if you switch they’ll give a donation that helps to pay for the website).
You talk it through and you fill in a direct debit form online, or they can send you one if you prefer. Once that’s in they contact your existing supplier for you. They cancel your old account, send you a new key, and you’re away. You need to check your meter on the day you switch and you’ll automatically receive a final bill from your old supplier if one is due.
Three things to be aware of:
- Everything about your meter stays the same. The things that change are who you get the key from and who the money goes to. Then Good Energy supplies the grid with as much electricity as you take out of it, from 100% renewable sources.
- It costs a bit more. Meters charge the same unit price for electricity, regardless of which companies supply them. Different companies have different prices. Good Energy charges a slightly higher unit price because it’s 100% renewable, so you will get an extra bill every few months that will be ten / tens of pounds. When you call up they’ll be able to give you more information on how much more it costs depending on how much you currently spend. Because of this, they don’t tie you into a contract – you can leave at any point if you don’t like it.
- If you own your home they’ll take your meter down for you for free. That makes your electricity cheaper – electricity is more expensive from pre-pay meters. (Someone’s got to collect your money from all the little shops and post offices, someone’s got to process it, etc etc, it’s pricey.) But if you leave them within 2 years they’ll ask you to pay for some of the cost – it costs them £50 to take it down and they’ll only do it for free if you’re with them for a while.
They’ll tell you all this on the phone but the short story is, it’s totally doable. The number is 0845 456 1640.
About Renewable Energy Sources
Wind
According to this article, the British Wind Energy Association believes we could get 20% of our energy from wind.
You can find out more about wind energy here.
The Sea
According to the Carbon Trust, we could get 20% of our energy from the sea. It’s a good option for us because we’re an island and we have a lot of sea.
Wave power involves putting a heavy floating thing on the sea. The floating thing is attached to a cord, which is attached to a turbine. The movement of the waves pulls the floating thing up and down, which in turn pulls the cord, which makes the turbine turn. Then the turbine creates electricity.
Tidal power involves using the power of the tides to move things and turn turbines, rather than the power of the waves.
You can find out more about wave and tidal power here.
Microgeneration
Researchers at Oxford University believe we could get 40% of our energy from microgeneration.
Rather than using big, centralized power stations, ‘microgen’ involves putting smaller renewable power generators in homes and communities. A wind turbine on your roof, a community CHP plant, or solar panels on church roofs are all examples of microgeneration.
This type of decentralized energy makes sense because in the current centralized system – with a few big power stations feeding a national grid -about 66% of our electricity is wasted at the power station and in the journey from power station to home, according to Greenpeace.
You can find out more about microgeneration at the Energy Savings Trust and Better Generation. If you install microgen in your home or community, Good Energy will pay you for all of the electricity you generate.
Biomass and solar
According to this article, we could get 5% of our energy from biomass and solar.
You know about solar power: photovoltaic cells take energy from the sun and convert it into electricity. It’s still quite expensive and inefficient in this country – you can find out more here.
There’s also solar thermal, which involves putting things like radiators on roofs and heating water in them using the sun. This is one of the most popular forms of microgeneration. You can find out more here.
Biomass, ‘formerly known as wood’ is a generic term which means taking organic matter - food waste, trees, etc, and turning it into energy by a variety of means.
You can find out more about biomass here.
