Green electricity review

What's new in this year's Green Electricity Guide

The Green Electricity Guide was developed by the Total Environment Centre (TEC) and Greenpeace as a resource for Australian consumers who want to support energy retailers with good environmental credentials.

The big three electricity retailers - AGL, EnergyAustralia and Origin – still supply about 75% of Australian households. But smaller retailers are snapping at their heels, and some have built their business models on green energy.

The 'greenest' of these – Powershop and Diamond Energy – are way ahead of the big three. And there are some new kids on the blocks – Energy Locals and Enova Energy.

"What is most interesting and different about this year's guide is the emergence of a new breed of small retailers with a strong commitment to supporting local communities as well as renewable energy," says TEC's Energy Advocate Mark Byrne.

But the large energy retailers are gradually getting greener as well, with AGL and Origin committing to a long-term coal-free future. Both retailers have improved their rankings, and AGL has earned a most-improved award for championing a transition to renewable energy.

But compared with the greenest retailers, AGL still has a long way to go, says Byrne.

"Despite their improvements, AGL remains Australia's biggest carbon polluter and should be doing more, particular around closing down their inefficient, unreliable and high-polluting old coal power stations as a early as possible."

The best green electricity providers

The Green Electricity Guide scores retailers on seven criteria, including: 

• how clean the electricity they generate or buy is 
• their position on renewables and fossil fuels  
• their support for solar households and the GreenPower scheme

The higher the percentage score, the greener the retailer.  For a detailed summary of the way the scores were calculated, see below.

The best two performers were: 

How did the biggest retailers compare?

While some retailers - Origin Energy, EnergyAustralia and AGL - have investments in some green initiatives, those investments are small compared to the money they have put into coal and gas generation. Origin Energy and AGL have also invested in coal seam gas (CSG).

How green is your electricity retailer?

About the Green Electricity Guide

This article summarises the results of the 2018 Green Electricity Guide.

The Total Environment Centre (TEC) and Greenpeace produce the Green Electricity Guide that we summarise in this article. Alviss Consulting was contracted for conducting the survey as well as analysing and scoring of the results. This article covers the third edition of the guide, following editions in 2014 and 2015.

TEC received funding for this project from Energy Consumers Australia (ECA).

Retailers are scored on:

• The carbon emissions intensity of the power stations some retailers own – 20%
• Support for energy sector decarbonisation – 15%
• Carbon offsets including GreenPower sales and pricing – 10%
• Support for local and renewable energy including offers to solar customers – 20%
• Policy positions on and investment in fossil fuels (coal and coal seam gas) – 15%
• Energy efficiency and demand management and response – 10%
• Corporate sustainability, transparency and responsibility – 10%

Where does your retailer buy its power?

The retailers that generate energy sell you some of it from their own power stations and they may also sell some to other retailers. They may buy from other power plants and through contracts with third parties. But these purchases are not public.

So, you could buy electricity from a retailer which owns renewable energy power plants, but some of the energy they provide could come from coal-fired power stations. And some retailers do not own power plants and buy all their power from other retailers. While retailers in the UK must make the "fuel mix" of all electricity sales available, Australian retailers aren't required to do this.

We think it's time for power companies to come clean on where they buy their electricity.

Power-greening tips 

In the ACT, NSW, SA, south-eastern Queensland and Victoria you can choose a green retailer. But switching plans can be complicated. 

• GreenPower - while not all retailers offer GreenPower - Transformer calculates GreenPower costs separately for the plans it recommends.
• Solar plans can be especially complicated because of the challenge of finding a good feed-in solar tariff combined with a good deal for the underlying power rates. "Transformer has helped many solar customers find big savings and our software is well equipped to analyse solar bills and customer needs. Transformer takes into account solar system size, geographical location, feed in solar tariffs and underlying rates to find the best offers for solar customers," explains CHOICE Senior Producer Peter Giles.

Take these steps to reduce your carbon footprint:

• Reduce your energy bills by saving energy and installing insulation.
• Consider rooftop solar power.
• Choose the greenest retailer available and buy GreenPower if you can.

Jargon buster

• Coal seam gas (CSG) Gas extracted from coal deposits. To extract the gas, fluid is usually injected under pressure in the rock in a process called fracking. Some of the risks are unknown, but could involve gas escaping or chemicals entering the groundwater supply.
• GreenPower GreenPower is government certified renewable energy. Paying extra for GreenPower means that your retailer sources renewable energy to be added to the grid on your behalf. More about GreenPower.