Electric Cars: The Basics
For those of you new to zero-emission electric driving, we recommend a read of the following articles:
- Types Of Electric Vehicles: A Short Guide
- Should I Buy An Electric Car In 2021?
- Top 20 Jargons Used In The Electric Vehicle Industry!
- UK Plug-In Electric Car Grant 2021
- What Is The Difference Between Conventional Hybrids and Plug-In Hybrids?
- Electric Car Home Charging OLEV EVHS Grant
- Best Electric Cars 2021
- Electric Cars Range: What Is WLTP?
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Not All That Is Green Is Actually Green!
Consumers making the switch from ‘dirty fuel’ to ‘green energy’, will come across many claims on pricing. Remember cheapest is not always the best, and in some cases not even real.
Renewable energy plans and tariffs have become very popular over the past few years, as households demonstrate their commitment to the planet.
However, some energy suppliers that do not generate or source renewable energy directly, falsely claim to sell ‘100% green electricity‘. In such cases, the energy supplier purchases REGO certificates from renewable energy generators to claim that the energy supplied is renewable. However, in reality, it is not. The supplier is still supplying dirty energy, marketed as zero-carbon energy, because of the certificates. Green-washing, is a practice, whereby, a supplier claims to be supplying green energy, but in actual fact is supplying ‘dirty fuel’.
In the case of greenwashing, the energy supplier acquires REGO certificates, and utilises it as a low-cost ‘marketing tool’ to sell dirty energy cloaked as green energy i.e. the energy supplier is not required to have any contracts to buy energy from renewable energy generators. By using REGO certificates, the energy supplier is making a higher profit, as they charge the customers a higher ‘green tariff’ for the dirty fuel supplied by them.
We at e-zoomed always encourage consumers to source green electricity and green gas from energy suppliers that either generate or source green power directly. e-zoomed partners, Good Energy and Ecotricity are two excellent examples of credible green energy suppliers in the UK.
What Are Renewable Energy Certificates? REGOs?
REGOs, Renewable Energy Guarantees Of Origin are certificates issued by OFGEM via their accreditation process to renewable energy generators (for example: solar and wind farms). REGOs certify that the energy you are sourcing has been generated from renewable sources i.e. it is green energy! So also do keep an eye out for confirmation of REGOs on the supplier website.
It Pays To Know Your Energy Supplier: Do Your Due Diligence
As mentioned above, the majority of green energy suppliers in the UK, are genuine and are supplying green or renewable energy i.e. sourcing green energy directly from renewable energy generators or own renewable energy plants. As an example, in the case of Good Energy, the REGO certificates match the green energy generators, from whom the green energy is being sourced (REGOs can be traded separately from the power). Good Energy has a community of over 1,400 renewable energy generators.
In the case of Ecotricity, the company generates it own green electricity by using the money from customer bills to build and own windmills and sunmills. Ecotricity calls it ‘bills-into-mills‘.
Therefore, if a green energy plan looks too good to be true, then probability it is not genuine green energy. We would recommend sourcing from credible and reputable suppliers of green energy. Follow this link for more details.
What Is The Role Of OFGEM?
OFGEM, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, is an independent national regulatory authority, with the primary objective of protecting the interests of electricity and gas consumers in the UK, to include:
- Promoting value for money
- The supervision and development of markets and competition
OFGEM provides impartial information to consumers on household energy to include energy guides, supplier comparison and consumer research.
For those of you seeking to buy and install EV home charging points, we offer a vast range of high quality and high performance electric car charging points at competitive prices. We also offer EV charging cables, EV leasing and green energy.
