better generation

The Green Energy Certification Scheme was today unveiled by Ofgem, the UK energy regulator. Its aim is to reassure customers that green electricity tariffs have genuine environmental benefits. Ofgem previously produced the Green Energy Supply Guidelines specifying what a green tariff should entail, how it should be promoted and the evidence it would require to substantiate its green claims.

“My foremost priority is consumer trust,” said Solitaire Townsend co-founder of Futerra, a sustainable development communications agency. She will be heading the independent panel by which the tariffs will be assessed. “Only two percent of Britons currently buy green energy, but i hope that a trustworthy label will convince many more to go green,” she added. The eligibility criteria state that tariffs have to demonstrate that they will “result in a reduction of a minimum threshold of carbon dioxide emissions”. Moreover, the green tariff should be shown to be an addition to existing efforts to meet government targets.

However, Ecotricity founder Dale Vince is sceptical of the scheme feeling that “Ofgem’s new ‘rules’ set an artificial standard of what green electricity really is”. Furthermore, he believes that this new label is more of “feel-good not do-good” green propaganda that has become known as greenwash. Additionally, the Big 7” electricity suppliers, who are already participants, have raised concerns about the oligopoly nature of the utilities being able to really support renewable energy generation.