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I'm well aware of that, but to advertise that the electricity you're using is 100% renewable is bollix.

Well I've got a special electric meter that looks at every over excited electron as it comes down the line and only lets the green electrons into my house. Black ones from oil get thrown away and grey ones from gas get sent back. At least I think that's what the salesman said ....... :)
 
Yes, Jacob must have one of them as well. :LOL:
Yes I realise it's difficult to understand for some people!
I wondered about an analogy - suppose you had a 4 horse power vehicle of which 1HP was supplied by an actual horse? Would that help? :unsure: I guess not. :LOL:
 
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I wouldn't pay for four horses, then.
You could finance all the costs of the horse and thereby place a contractual obligation on the driver to actually use a horse. Simple really!
 
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Bulb1.7 millionIn Special Administration
November 2021Neon Reef30,000British Gas
November 2021Social Energy5,500British Gas
November 2021CNG41,000Pozitive Energy
November 2021Zebra Power14,800British Gas
November 2021Omni Energy6,000Utilita
November 2021Ampoweruk Limited2,600Yü Energy
November 2021MA Energy300SmartestEnergy Business
November 2021Bluegreen Energy5,900British Gas
October 2021GOTO Energy

October 2021Daligas9,000Shell Energy
October 2021Pure Planet235,000Shell Energy
October 2021Colorado Energy15,000Shell Energy
September 2021Symbio50,000E.ON Next
September 2021Igloo180,000E.ON Next
September 2021Enstroga6,000E.ON Next
September 2021Green350,000Shell Energy
September 2021Avro600,000Octopus
September 2021People's Energy350,000British Gas
September 2021Utility Point200,000EDF

September 2021PFP Energy80,000British Gas
September 2021Moneyplus Energy9000British Gas
August 2021HUB Energy15,000Eon Next
January 2021Simplicity Energy50,000British Gas Evolve
January 2021Green Network Energy367,500EDF
December 2020Yorkshire Energy74,000Scottish Power
October 2020Tonik Energy130,000Scottish Power
September 2020Effortless Energy2,500Octopus
March 2020Gnergy9,000Bulb
December 2019Breeze18,000British Gas

October 2019Toto134,000EDF
October 2019Uttily (Rutherford)280Total gas and power
September 2019Eversmart29,000Utilita
August 2019Solarplicity8,000EDF
August 2019Cardiff Energy Supply Ltd800SSE
March 2019Brilliant17,000SSE (currently SSE OVO)
January 2019Our Power32,000Utilita
January 2019Economy Energy237,000OVO
December 2018One Select33,000Together Energy
November 2018Spark Energy290,000OVO

November 2018Extra Energy108,000Scottish Power
October 2018Usio Energy7,255First Utility (currently Shell)
July 2018Iresa Energy95,000Octopus Energy
July 2018UK National Gas80Hudson Energy
January 2018Future Energy10,000Green Star Energy
November 2016GB Energy160,000Coop Energy


I think they'd disagree with you. :LOL:
That's an astonishing list of failed utility companies, and only the tip of the iceberg if you go back to when it kicked off - 1979 ish.
Imagine if they'd been mad enough to privatise the NHS! Given a bad winter, let alone Covid, we'd seriously be up S creek without a paddle!
 
I gather green electricity not only comes from wind, solar and hydro but somewhat controversially also power stations burning biomass - Apparently we import a lot of wood pellets from Canada and there is some debate just how green this energy is.
As for energy companies going bust, I’m afraid to say I’m part of the problem. For many years I’ve been switching regularly from fixed rate deal to fixed rate deal and my present supplier is likely supplying me at a loss. I’m expecting a big hike in my bill when either my supplier goes to the wall or my fixed rate ends in March.
 
I gather green electricity not only comes from wind, solar and hydro but somewhat controversially also power stations burning biomass - Apparently we import a lot of wood pellets from Canada and there is some debate just how green this energy is.
As for energy companies going bust, I’m afraid to say I’m part of the problem. For many years I’ve been switching regularly from fixed rate deal to fixed rate deal and my present supplier is likely supplying me at a loss. I’m expecting a big hike in my bill when either my supplier goes to the wall or my fixed rate ends in March.
Yes biomass is not good. Good in principle but bad in practice. Debunking the Biomass Myth
But burning wood waste which would otherwise go to land fill is carbon neutral ish, so I'm OK with my woodburner! Just direct room heat, no complicated systems
 
Energy company failures are a product of poor management and poor regulation. Changes in the price of gas beyond the control of management or regulators is the catalyst.

Poor management - committing to sell energy on fixed price contracts without securing the cost base is risky. Easy to win customers with low prices as the costs of forward gas purchases to match future commitments is avoided.

Poor regulation - government appointed regulators either knew the risks the market faced and did nothing, or were caught unawares. They planned for occassional, not mass market, failure.

The life-boat solution of transferring customers of failed companies to another is no longer feasible. The big 6 (?) can't make a profit even on the capped variable tariff, so they will no longer play ball for the government.

The only question is the best way out of the hole now dug:
  • tell customers of failed companies to sort out their own problems. Political suicide?
  • directly subsidise energy companies to take on customers of failed companies. Not a Tory behaviour, very transparent, easily ridiculed by the opposition.
  • sue directors of the failed companies. Not a quick fix. Could be protracted and ultimately ineffective, and directors may not have enough assets anyway.
  • take over the failed business and run it until current obligations are fulfilled.
Probably the least worst option is the last - customers are left no worse off, the costs to the taxpayer are more opaque.
 
.....
  • take over the failed business and run it until current obligations are fulfilled.
Probably the least worst option is the last - customers are left no worse off, the costs to the taxpayer are more opaque.
a.k.a. "nationalisation"
 
Energy company failures are a product of poor management and poor regulation. Changes in the price of gas beyond the control of management or regulators is the catalyst.

...

Not as simplistic as that. Basically a lot of the smaller companies were effectively running a Ponzi scheme. Plus they were not mandated to hedge against future price rises in generating costs.


OOOOps...you covered that :mad: Poor regulation.
 
Yes biomass is not good. Good in principle but bad in practice. Debunking the Biomass Myth
But burning wood waste which would otherwise go to land fill is carbon neutral ish, so I'm OK with my woodburner! Just direct room heat, no complicated systems
Fundamentally the increase in carbon compounds in the atmosphere is caused by burning fossil fuels ie taking carbon locked deep in the ground and putting it in to the atmosphere. Biomass is not that and one of the ways of reducing carbon in the atmosphere would be biomass with carbon capture.

If biomass is intrinsically bad for climate change I would need more convincing than the statement “ A plethora of recent scientific articles and studies have demolished this myth”.

It may be that biomass as currently implemented has environmentally damaging effects, but that is not the same as saying it creates climate change. If biomass is causing deforestation there may be a case but that is implementation. Given the sky high timber prices it seems likely to me that the Canadians are chopping down trees for timber and the wood pellets are a by product. Perhaps the wood pellets should be stacked up and allowed to rot and produce methane.

Fundamentally we have to work out how we stop using coal, oil and natural gas and do it PDQ.
 
It is 100% if you are paying 100% of the actual cost of green energy, effectively, to all intents and purposes.
No, it is not. The energy you use could have been generated via green, nuclear or fossil-burning sources. What makes tariffs 'green' is the commitment by the suppliers to replace every electron you use with an electron generated from a 'green' source. Clearly, when the sun does not shine or the wind does not blow and fossil generation is more heavily relied upon, what you use will contain a proportionally higher amount of 'dirty' energy and that may not be immediately replaced by luvvy-dovey, 'green' electricity. So, a supplier saying they only supply 'green' electricity is more of an aspiration than a fact.

And nobody being supplied on a 'green' tariff is paying the 'actual cost of green energy'. If that were true it would not be necessary to include a 'green' levy on every energy customer's bill regardless of where their electricity is generated. Renewable energy remains a subsidised commodity.
 
Fundamentally the increase in carbon compounds in the atmosphere is caused by burning fossil fuels ie taking carbon locked deep in the ground and putting it in to the atmosphere. Biomass is not that and one of the ways of reducing carbon in the atmosphere would be biomass with carbon capture.
Carbon capture is a pipe dream and is unlikely ever to be practical
If biomass is intrinsically bad for climate change I would need more convincing than the statement “ A plethora of recent scientific articles and studies have demolished this myth”.
Surely you should read a few of these articles first before dismissing them!
It may be that biomass as currently implemented has environmentally damaging effects, but that is not the same as saying it creates climate change.
Read a few of the articles
Fundamentally we have to work out how we stop using coal, oil and natural gas and do it PDQ.
Agree.
https://www.google.com/search?q=is+...0l2j0i390l2.4785j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8https://www.climate2020.org.uk/how-clean-is-biomass/
 
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No, it is not. The energy you use could have been generated via green, nuclear or fossil-burning sources. What makes tariffs 'green' is the commitment by the suppliers to replace every electron you use with an electron generated from a 'green' source. .....
Amounts to the same thing
 

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