Green Business Energy – All You Need To Know

If you want your business to do its bit to tackle climate change and protect the planet, there are two main options open to you – switch to a green business energy tariff, and/or generate some or all of your own renewable business energy.

Here, we explain all you need to know about implementing an environmentally-friendly energy strategy for your business.

What are green business energy tariffs?

One of the easiest ways for your business to become ‘greener’ is to switch to a green or renewable business energy tariff. You could even save money on your energy bills in the process.

Many energy suppliers offer green business energy tariffs or contracts. This means that some or all of the electricity you use is matched with the amount the supplier buys from renewable energy generators.

You still get the same gas and electricity through the same pipes and wires as if you were on a standard tariff – you just know that your money is being spent on feeding ‘green’ electricity into the national supply.

The more businesses (and households) that sign up to green energy tariffs, the more renewable energy is fed back into the grid, and the country’s dependence on fossil fuels reduces.

The renewable energy you use could come from wind farms, solar farms, hydroelectric power stations and biomass plants.

Some suppliers, including Bulb, also offset carbon emissions from the gas they supply by supporting carbon reduction projects. Others, such as Good Energy, run their own wind and solar farms.

Which suppliers offer green business tariffs?

The Big Six energy suppliers – British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON, npower, Scottish Power and SSE – offer green business contracts, but whether you qualify may depend on whether you run a small or large business.

There are also a number of smaller, independent suppliers that provide renewable business energy tariffs, such as Bulb, Ecotricity, Good Energy, Green Energy UK, Hudson Energy, Octopus Energy, Smartest Energy and Total Gas & Power.

The advantage of switching to a smaller supplier is that they often market cheaper tariffs, and they also regularly receive high ratings for their customer service. The downside is that in some cases they may be less financially stable than the Big Six and there is therefore a greater risk that they might go bust. 

In the unlikely event that your energy supplier were to go out of business, you would be caught by the safety net put in place by the energy market regulator, Ofgem (similar arrangements apply for domestic consumers).

Following any supplier failure, there would be no interruption to your supply, and Ofgem would place you with a new supplier automatically. At that point, you could then decide whether to stick with the new supplier you’ve been moved to, or to make your own alternative arrangements by switching to a more competitive deal.

Read more: forbes