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From the Guardian: E.ON is one of the UK’s largest renewable energy generators and plans to draw from its own windfarms, biomass plants and solar projects to p

From the Guardian: E.ON is one of the UK’s largest renewable energy generators and plans to draw from its own windfarms, biomass plants and solar projects to power the switch. It will also need to top up its portfolio by buying renewable “guarantee certificates”, which are sold by renewable energy developers to guarantee that a set amount of electricity has been generated from a specific project. So they are using certificates a bit. There are firms such as Ecotricity that supply purely renewable energy without buying certificates.

growlist 7y ago
Just a quick warning - I've saved hundreds switching away from Ecotricity. Personally I'd rather give the money saved to a tree planting charity myself, should I wish to do so.
- pidg 7y ago
  As an Ecotricity customer I do wonder about this. My bills seem to go up every 6 months and are already pretty high. Then again, I used to be with Eon and their customer service is outrageously abysmal - dropped calls, 30+ minute hold times etc. With Ecotricity I get straight through to a local human every time.
  - tluyben2 7y ago
    Not from the UK but how often does that happen that you have to call your utility company? I cannot say I ever had to do that and i'm mid 40s and home owner since 22.
    - tialaramex 7y ago
      These guys aren't exactly the utility company. So in one sense that's good, they aren't the ones taking the call when a tree falls on a power line, or some idiot hits a cable while digging a trench, or your whole street blacks out for no apparent reason. That's a problem for a Network Operator, a natural monopoly which will have emergency contact numbers and in my experience those are fairly good at answering, although obviously only calls about actual problems with their supply network. The "supplier" for a consumer is actually basically just a bunch of legal contracts, a spreadsheet, a marketing budget and a call centre. And you do end up calling them when things go wrong with that part, which is too often. I usually end up talking to them at least once near the start of a relationship because they got something important wrong, and when I move home or any circumstances change. It _should_ all be seamless but it often isn't. And ordinary consumers don't understand that it's just spreadsheets, they are genuinely distressed that a screw-up might mean their lights stop working, their food is ruined in the fridge etcetera. So this creates a reluctance to even risk using a different "supplier". Right now it's super smooth for me, I went to full "smart meter" billing, there's a wireless box somewhere telling what it'll cost when I remember to look and the money vanishes from my current account on cue, no action needed for years at a time (need to review the tarif design, ie mix of fixed and variable charges online every few years or you get a shit default deal). But a decade ago I spent months contesting charges with one of these suppliers because they had a meter reference down wrong in some database and couldn't get the fix to "stick" so I'd get next door's usage billed, I'd complain, they'd "fix" it, same next month, repeat.
  - mrnice 7y ago
    Eon is an awful company to deal with. I still have an outstanding issue from 2013 that they refuse to resolve. I get an automated call EVERY DAY demanding payment even though I have proven to them again and again that they in fact owe me money. You are not given an option to speak to a human. These types of calls should not be allowed. Endless waiting times if you try to contact them only to speak to someone who (a) has to have everything explained to them again (b) is not empowered to resolve the issue. Very frustrating. Renewable energy or not, avoid Eon.
  - growlist 7y ago
    I'm going with these guys - nothing to disclose and can't comment on them yet as the switch hasn't happened - but according to the comparison site I used I'm going to be saving £400 a year or so :-o http://www.breezeenergy.co.uk/ http://www.breezeenergy.co.uk/

growlist 7y ago

Just a quick warning - I've saved hundreds switching away from Ecotricity. Personally I'd rather give the money saved to a tree planting charity myself, should I wish to do so.

pidg 7y ago
As an Ecotricity customer I do wonder about this. My bills seem to go up every 6 months and are already pretty high. Then again, I used to be with Eon and their customer service is outrageously abysmal - dropped calls, 30+ minute hold times etc. With Ecotricity I get straight through to a local human every time.
- tluyben2 7y ago
  Not from the UK but how often does that happen that you have to call your utility company? I cannot say I ever had to do that and i'm mid 40s and home owner since 22.
  - tialaramex 7y ago
    These guys aren't exactly the utility company. So in one sense that's good, they aren't the ones taking the call when a tree falls on a power line, or some idiot hits a cable while digging a trench, or your whole street blacks out for no apparent reason. That's a problem for a Network Operator, a natural monopoly which will have emergency contact numbers and in my experience those are fairly good at answering, although obviously only calls about actual problems with their supply network. The "supplier" for a consumer is actually basically just a bunch of legal contracts, a spreadsheet, a marketing budget and a call centre. And you do end up calling them when things go wrong with that part, which is too often. I usually end up talking to them at least once near the start of a relationship because they got something important wrong, and when I move home or any circumstances change. It _should_ all be seamless but it often isn't. And ordinary consumers don't understand that it's just spreadsheets, they are genuinely distressed that a screw-up might mean their lights stop working, their food is ruined in the fridge etcetera. So this creates a reluctance to even risk using a different "supplier". Right now it's super smooth for me, I went to full "smart meter" billing, there's a wireless box somewhere telling what it'll cost when I remember to look and the money vanishes from my current account on cue, no action needed for years at a time (need to review the tarif design, ie mix of fixed and variable charges online every few years or you get a shit default deal). But a decade ago I spent months contesting charges with one of these suppliers because they had a meter reference down wrong in some database and couldn't get the fix to "stick" so I'd get next door's usage billed, I'd complain, they'd "fix" it, same next month, repeat.
- mrnice 7y ago
  Eon is an awful company to deal with. I still have an outstanding issue from 2013 that they refuse to resolve. I get an automated call EVERY DAY demanding payment even though I have proven to them again and again that they in fact owe me money. You are not given an option to speak to a human. These types of calls should not be allowed. Endless waiting times if you try to contact them only to speak to someone who (a) has to have everything explained to them again (b) is not empowered to resolve the issue. Very frustrating. Renewable energy or not, avoid Eon.
- growlist 7y ago
  I'm going with these guys - nothing to disclose and can't comment on them yet as the switch hasn't happened - but according to the comparison site I used I'm going to be saving £400 a year or so :-o http://www.breezeenergy.co.uk/ http://www.breezeenergy.co.uk/