But it’s different gas that we get, we have bought green after all, Grant!
I just sat there in shock, then my mum’s words hit me like a brick – ‘don’t judge others on your experiences, they may have not been that lucky in life’! It was that day that I realised that its not common knowledge how green energy contracts work and that we had to start conversations with clients regarding their energy and whether green would work for them.
Let us start at the beginning, energy invariably is green or brown. Brown energy comes from fossil fuels such as gas, coal, oil, nuclear reactors, diesel engines, thermal power stations and so on. They will have noses turned up at them but without them the world doesn’t turn. The demand for energy outstrips green supply, its also cheaper to make, by quite a lot.
Green is good, green is clean and green is king, but this comes at a price. Manufactured by solar cell, tidal energy, electricity from water, windmills and other methods, the cost to implement the production of green energy is high. We have lost some suppliers, and the general wealth of profits from energy companies at a time when business and domestic clients’ costs are spiralling out of control, is sickening. Surely though, the vast levels of profits are being used the enhance green energy production? Well, no, not really!
When you see your bill for energy you will see at the bottom something called CCL, that climate change levy and that is a government charge that you pay. This is charged to try to get you to reduce your energy usage and carbon footprint. Every single unit of gas or electricity you use is chargeable. The rate currently is 0.775p, so if you use 100,000 units a year you will pay an extra £775.
Also, in April 2021, the government introduced the TCR charges implemented into bills for homes and business alike. Targeted Charging Review charges are mainly regarding the distribution of energy and maintaining the energy distribution network. But, remember that level of profit we spoke about earlier? Many experts in the sector believe that since that date, the energy companies have used this to pass what was a shared charge wholly onto the customer, especially when these charges sit solely on the standing charge, not the unit rate that has in the last three years has been as volatile as ever. An additional charge on top of the stable element of your bill, one that’s almost hidden, is hard to swallow. Could these charges have been swallowed by them? Should they be?
Then it comes to my opening line, you’ve decided that the seal you saw on Blue Planet deserves your support, so you have spoken to us at Apertus Energy and advised us that you want to look into a green offering. We have prices that you have justified make Frank the Seal worth the extra and moved ahead into your new supply. Surprisingly, the gas man does not come out and dig up the car park outside your office and lay new pipes. They didn’t lay two pipes when they built the building and green gas in not pumped into a smaller pipe that ran inside the normal gas pipe (all things we have heard). You still receive the same gas and electricity to your business. The exact same gas and electric! They simply cannot have a pipe and cables running from the manufacturing process all the way to your office only carrying your commodities.
What they can do is offset your usage against green energy to fund the production of more green energy. Each supplier will have a percentage of their bulk that has been produced from green methods, this is what you are purchasing and by purchasing that, the mix in their bulk supply is ‘greener’ from the dilution of brown energy with green, making it ‘murky greeny brown’.
You receive an annualised certificate for electricity to state that your consumption has been matched against green production to that number, so you have paid for ‘green’. Frank the Seal Lives!
Gas is slightly different in that your payment funds RGGOs. These are certificates that are supplied when a unit of green gas is produced.
When you contract 100,000 units of green gas you are supplied with 100,000 RGGOs and they are ‘retired’ when they are matched against your usage. I always feel these are a little cooler but it could be that it sounds like the baddie from Ghostbusters 2.
In short, that is what you are paying for, not for Bob the Builder to come out and change your pipes for green ones!
The more green energy is requested, sold and supplied, the better for the environment, and although some suppliers only supply green, and have taken the hit on the costs, the poor form of brokers and energy suppliers alike means that, sometimes, the green they are paid for is far more important than the green they supply.
So, if you are currently on a brown tariff, looking to start your green journey or you want a green contract to run alongside your new export contract, utilising the energy you store in your new battery units from your new solar panels that you want to use for charging your new electric fleet via your new EV chargers, we believe knowledge is power. Power could be green, therefore knowledge is green energy, and gaining information on being more environmentally conscious should be open and honest – like us!
PS Frank the Seal was not harmed in the writing of this article, although a whole packet of penguins were hammered!
Get in touch with the team at Apertus Energy to find out how they can help. Call 01604 212828 or email info@apertusgroup.co.uk. Visit The Apertus Group website: www.apertusgroup.co.uk
Managing Director
