The news source reported that under the UK government’s schemes to reduce carbon emissions, around 8% to 10% of all domestic electricity and gas bills goes towards increasing clean power generation.
British customers are signing up to green supply tariffs in a bid to do their bit for reducing carbon emissions. These green tariffs, which are more expensive than conventional utility plans, are intended to offer customers the choice of helping in the fight against climate change.
The news source noted that these green tariffs are just repackaged versions of tariffs already paid for by existing subsidies, with no particular environmental benefit over conventional tariff schemes. No additional money is being spent on eco-friendly projects, according to Ofgem.
Alistair Buchanan, Ofgem CEO, said: We want suppliers to stop repackaging their existing environmental activity as green immediately and to align their marketing with our guidelines by September 2008. With our revised guidelines we intend to shine a light onto suppliers’ green offerings to show the customer why a tariff is green.
Utilities which fail to voluntarily meet these guidelines will be required to prove that their green tariffs are actually providing additional environmental benefits other than those paid for with existing subsidies. Ofgem will be working with suppliers to set up an independent verification scheme by the end of 2008, according to Reuters.
