Choose green energy (that doesn’t buy abattoir waste)
Ecotricity is presently the only green energy supplier that does not animal waste from abattoirs or factory farms (which obviously make money from selling it). Businesses with solar panels can sell excess energy back to them, for passive income.
You can also switch for business accounts.
Update: Octopus apparently has now also changed policy, and is the second supplier to say it no longer buys abattoir waste, but do double-check this before signing up.
What happens if you rent your home?
If you rent, your landlord or property manager might handle energy supply, so check with them first before switching yourself. Some rental agreements include energy supplier choices.
How much of your bill is for energy?
Although energy companies and MPs say that bills are high due to oil prices, the price you pay is not just for energy (that’s around a third of the bill). The rest is to cover operating costs, VAT and other charges. England has some of the highest energy prices in the world, by comparison.
Companies encourage us to pay by direct debit, based on estimates. But if they are wrong, you end up with the company making interest on money that could be in your account. It’s believed that over £3 billion is held in credit by energy suppliers in the UK.
Ofgem states that you have the legal right to claim this back, at any time. The website shows you how to do it, and you should receive your money back within weeks. If not, you can make an official complaint to them, to sort it out.
For bereavements, as well as the account and meter readings, you will also need a copy of the death certificate, alongside details of family members of executors.
Help if you can’t afford energy bills
- Ensure you are claiming entitled benefits (most unclaimed benefits are for vulnerable people – just one phone call could see many older people get Pension Credit, which is worth £11,000 extra a year, including qualifying for Winter Fuel Allowance).
- AGE UK Warm Homes program can help to install radiator boosters, draught excluders and energy-efficient lightbulbs, and can also help with benefits. One caller with dementia (who had been turning off her eating to save money) ended up £9000 a year better off.
- British Gas Bounce Back List lists over 200 places to find help with bills and grants, and includes a list of warm space café.
- StepChange has lots of advice.
Ecotricity has a chart to show where each energy company sources its’ green energy from. This includes:
- British gas (from poultry litter and slurry (a mix of manure and water)
- EDF (poultry manure)
- npower (animal processing by-products)
- sse (cattle slurry)
- Good Energy (animal manures)
- 100green (cattle slurry)
And of course, there’s no guarantee that any of these are coming from free-range farms, so you could unwittingly being a supporter of factory farms, as the big sites don’t tell you on their websites where the energy is being sourced from.
