Anyone tried Ecotricity?

wideboy · January 2010

I've finally had enough of Scottish power and their ludicrous "billing" systems. Anyone tried this lot?

<a href="http://www.ecotricity.co.uk">ecotricity.co.uk</a>

rainbow_carnage · January 2010

We've just switched back to Scottish Power after two years with someone else. I don't remember SP being that bad. Our last provider sent a letter informing us of a price hike, effective four months prior to the date on the letter. I thought that was a bit rude.

applehead · January 2010

We have used Good Energy for years and years and their service is very good. They are the ONLY 100% renewable energy supplier, so you can put a big fat 0 in your electricity carbon footprint box.

check em out.

SimonB · January 2010

Re: Good Energy and Ecotricity ... sadly all you're paying for is their tiny amount of generation being put on the grid (less than 10%) ... you're still actually consuming electricity generated from big nasty coal-fired power stations = you're creating just as big a carbon footprint as everyone else.

If you want a 0 carbon footprint you have to power yourself 'off-grid'

wideboy · January 2010

@ SimonB - Surely its the same difference. There's nothing practical in running Green and Non-Green power cables to every home in the country.

tamsin · January 2010

good lord, scottish power have terrible customer service. i've been with them for over a year and still no direct debit. they keep apologising and giving ,e money back but ultimately I do not trust them to calculate my bills correctly. But I'm scared to change supplier again in case the next ones are just as rubbish ...

nick_m · January 2010

@ SimonB - If you pay your bills to Good Energy, they generate renewable power. The more people that do this, the more renewable power is generated on the grid in favour of greenhouse gas-emitting power. It is irrelevant that that actual, physical power you use in your home may or may not have been generated renewably. Power is power, you cannot differentiate between renewable and non-renwable power in the cables.

andy · January 2010

Having read some of the supply contracts, the energy generated by Good Energy isn't necessarily even connected to the grid. My understanding was that they pay suppliers to 'claim' that elecricity generated as their own. This is double counting at best. I've tried really hard to understand their model, but remain quite sceptical of it. I'm not convinced that there's any real benefit, as a consumer, in signing up to it. Do your own research and all that.

wideboy · January 2010

Not sure if my previous post about Scottish Power was moderated(?) or if I just didn't get round to posting it, but in any case - I have a similar view to Tasmin. IMHO Scottish Power were keeping us heavily in credit (£150+) via a variable direct debit, which just wasn't on. The bill and what we actually owed according to usage seemed to have no logical correlation. Complaints didn't change anything, so after a while we ended up paying what we think we owe via standing order instead. Because of this we "forfeit" the reduced rates. I think this fairly underhanded way of doing things has been partially borne out of price comparison websites.

I must look into Ecotricty vs Good Energy models...

andy · January 2010

not moderated!

dion · January 2010

they don't moderate look - andy is a fool with no brain and if he doesn't moderate this he agrees

rainbow_carnage · January 2010

Like most providers, Scottish Power claim that they're spreading your energy costs over the year. By the time winter rolls around, you should be 'up' two or three months' worth. It balances out by spring. Of course, this doesn't work for everyone. It's based on how much they assume you're going to spend in the cold months. Not everyone heats their homes in the same way. Also, not everyone is happy paying that much in advance for energy they might use later on. £150 isn't a lot to be up in December. We've been in credit by almost £300, but by spring, it was down to zero again.

andy · January 2010

@dion - i do agree! don't forget lazy, too.

nick_m · January 2010

@ andy - it doesn't matter if the electricity generated by small suppliers is not grid-connected. In fact it is a benefit, because there is no grid transmission loss when electricity is generated locally. The only thing that matters is that if, in the absence of generating the local renewable power, grid-connected, fossil fuel powered energy would have been used. This is without doubt the case in the UK. I don't think Good Energy are running some fraudulent scheme to 'claim' they are producing renewable power when they are not. Have a look at their audits.

andy · January 2010

@nick_m - I read some Good Energy supply contracts and as far as I understood, they count the whole of the power generated. Imagine you are a green-minded person living in a windy area. You decide to put up a decent sized wind turbine that powers 2/3rds of your domestic use. In this situation, post-installation, Good Energy turn up and offer you a contract that pays you for 100% of the electricity generated by your turbine to count towards their renewable targets. They then sell this renewable allowance on to their customers. But that renewable power is already counted towards powering my house. From my read of the incredibly opaque contract, it looks like double counting, pure and simple. The reason they get away with it, in this case, is that the renewable power being produced domestically isn't otherwise being recognised under any other scheme.

andy · January 2010

<http://www.goodenergy.co.uk/?page_id=46>; *With HomeGen, you can have your cake and eat it. We pay you 15p for all the units you generate - even the units you use. Not only are you saving money by buying less electricity, we pay you for using the electricity you generate.* Why do they pay you for units you use? Because they can resell your units to other customers. Double counting.

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Anyone tried Ecotricity?

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