Power shopping

Green electricity at a fair price for the public sector With time at a premium - and green electricity too - it can be a challenge to cut carbon at work. Now the government is offering the public sector the chance to buy electricity generated from renewable sources at the same price as power from fossil fuels. Homeowners have been able to get themselves on to green electricity tariffs at no extra cost - or trouble - for a while, but organisations like schools and councils have had to pay more until now. However, the new deal, a five-year agreement between British Gas and the (ludicrously punctuated) procurement agency OGCbuying.solutions, makes their power directly cost comparable, taking into account that it comes free of the climate change levy. The contract, open to small site customers spending less than £12,000 on electricity a year, also guarantees that the energy comes from 100% renewable sources all of the time - it’s not just a promise to provide that ‘when it’s available’. “This makes it a lot easier for people with not much time to sort this type of thing out,” says Greenpeace climate campaigner Sarah Shoraka. “Now there’s no excuse not to get electricity from green sources.” - Hannah Bullock

17 June 2005

Hannah Bullock