Confusion Over How Green Energy Is Supplied

Homeowners are put off switching to a new green energy tariff due to confusion about how the greener energy is supplied to their home, new research from British Gas has found.

The research revealed that over a quarter (28%) of consumers would consider switching to a new green tariff if they understood more about where their energy supply was coming from and almost one in four (23%) said that they find the jargon around green energy daunting.

Meanwhile, 15% of consumers believe that switching to a green energy tariff would involve the energy itself being supplied from a different green network. Green energy is, in fact, supplied the same way, using the same pipes and wires, but the supplier matches electricity or gas usage with the equivalent amount of renewable energy or offsets.

“It’s clear that until recently many people have not been thinking about where their energy comes from and this may have led to some misconceptions on supply when switching supplier and the sustainability of the energy itself,” said James Rushen, group head of environment at Centrica.

“The good news is that we are starting to see growing interest in sustainable energy from our customers.”

Although 12% of consumers had switched energy supplier in the last five years due to sustainability-related reasons, by far the highest motivating factor for switching energy supplier was cost, with 72% of consumers stating this as a reason for switching.