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Good Energy doesn’t greenwash

What is greenwashing?

Greenwashing is when a company presents itself in a way that makes you think they’re sustainable – when they’re not. They do this to convince you to buy their product or service over those sold by their competitors.

Greenwashing is misleading. It makes you think you’re having a positive impact, when you’re actually still supporting unsustainable business practices that are damaging our planet.

Examples of greenwashing include:

  • Oil and gas companies advertising their clean energy initiatives, while investing substantially more money in fossil fuel extraction.
  • Clothing brands promotingsustainable ranges that make up a miniscule fraction of their overall stock of fast fashion.
  • Domestic energy suppliers claiming to supply your home with renewable electricity, despite not buying any directly from renewable generators.

How does greenwashing work in the energy industry?

Suppliers claiming to offer ‘100% renewable’ electricity tariffs should be sourcing enough power directly from renewable generators to match every single unit of power their customers are using. This method creates additionality and makes Britain’s electricity grid greener. This is what we do at Good Energy.

However, due to a regulatory loophole, energy suppliers can get away with labelling brown power as ‘renewable’ – when it isn’t. This is because REGOs – the certificates used to certify power as renewable – can be sold separately to renewable power. Watch the video to find out how this works.

What are REGOs?

Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs) are certificates that are issued for every MWh of clean electricity generated in the UK. Energy suppliers use them to prove to Ofgem that they have bought enough 100% renewable power to cover what their customers are using over the course of a year.

As the value of renewable power grows, REGOs are increasing in cost – which is great news for generators as it boosts their income and builds the business case for building more generation technologies.

However, REGO certificates can be sold separately from the power they relate to. This makes it possible for suppliers to buy brown power from the wholesale market, and then buy enough certificates to label it as renewable. This is a problem as it is misleading, it doesn’t directly support renewable generators, and it doesn’t lead to the grid getting any greener.

At Good Energy, we buy our REGOs alongside the power.

What makes Good Energy different?

At Good Energy, we match 100% of the electricity our customers use over a year with power we buy directly from over 2000 independent renewable generators.

We’re striving for 100% real time matching, and in the last three years, our in house trading team have matched over 90% of our customers’ usage with renewable generation on an hourly basis.

We buy renewable certificates (REGOs) together with the power they relate to for a fair price, which creates a supportive environment that encourages more independent generators to enter the market. In 2023, two thirds of the contracts we signed with generators were with brand new conntections to the grid, showing that the UK renewable generation market is growing.

The way in which we source power has been recognised as being genuinely green. Which? placed us top of their table of eco energy providers, and all our energy tariffs are Uswitch Gold accredited

Further resources

Greenwashing FAQs