This could be through providing energy from renewable sources such as offshore wind farms, to offsetting the carbon from energy consumption, to investing in research and development projects.

Although it is still a comparatively niche area, there are already many such tariffs on the market in varying ‘shades of green’. Some cost more than the supplier’s standard tariff but there are others available that will cost the customer no more than their usual tariff.

The ERA and its members have been working with Ofgem and other industry stakeholders during the recent Ofgem consultation on developing guidelines for Green Supply Offerings.

The aim of this consultation is to protect the interests of consumers who are interested in opting for a green supply service and to ensure that they can be confident about what they are buying.

The ERA and its members agree that, when it comes to Green Supply Offerings, what the customer is signing up to must be clear and transparent. The customer must be fully apprised of the product they are buying into. We strongly believe that this will allow them to make an informed judgement as to what part they want to play as a consumer in terms of their investment in these tariffs, and as a result, their environmental contribution.

The ERA believes that Ofgem’s forthcoming guidelines on Green supply Services should provide suppliers with a broad high level framework to help them steer their green supply offerings.

The ERA feels that, to encourage further innovation in this niche marketplace, it is important that the guidelines are not too prescriptive on suppliers. The scheme would then further customer confidence through a visible verification of green supply offerings.

It is Ofgem’s role to publish these guidelines to enable the industry to use them as a base to produce a verification scheme.

The ERA will continue to work with its members and wider stakeholders on this issue.

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