Ecotricity, Britain’s first green
energy company, is today announcing a price freeze on their
electricity and gas tariffs until the New Year, with reports that the
Big Six energy companies are going to boost their prices by 8%.
The Gloucestershire-based firm had
already revealed it would cut the price of its 100% Green
Electricity tariff from Tuesday 1st October, to undercut the standard
tariffs of the Big Six energy companies, which until now it had
always price matched.
Now Ecotricity are going one step
further and promising their 100% Green Electricity tariff and Green
Gas tariff would be frozen until 2014, further undercutting the Big
Six which are expected to raise the price of supplying their
non-green electricity in the coming weeks.
Dale Vince, Ecotricity founder, said:
“we’ve already taken the step of slightly lowering electricity
bills for our customers from October 1st, now we are going further
and freezing our gas and electricity prices until the New Year.
“With the Big Six expected to raise
prices in the coming weeks, what was originally a modest reduction in
price, should quickly become a more significant saving.
“People often assume that green
energy is more expensive. But most households in Britain are actually
on a standard tariff – so millions of households could get 100%
green electricity for less than the price they pay for electricity
from the Big Six.
“Around 40% of our electricity supply
is self-generated by our own fleet of wind and sun parks, and we have
planning permission to more than double that supply in the near
future – this degree of energy independence now means we can be
price independently.
Ecotricity’s Ethical Price Promise
ensures all of its electricity customers get the same 100% Green
Electricity tariff and Green Gas tariff at the same, best price,
regardless of when they signed up or how they pay.
Dale continued: “In addition, if and
when we do raise prices next year, we promise that it will be by less
than the Big Six will raise their prices by in the coming weeks, so
we further widen the gap between ourselves and the conventional
energy companies.
“We have one simple electricity
tariff and will continue to invest more per customer in new sources
of renewable energy, and we are now moving further away from the
price of the Big Six standard tariffs too.
“Our work is aimed at bringing about
an energy independent Britain, and as a green energy company we want
to demonstrate how this can be achieved – the more of our own
energy we produce through our own renewable sources, the greater
we’ll be able to shield our customers from price hikes that come
with an over-reliance on fossil fuels. It’s all part of our vision
for a Green Britain.”
On average, Ecotricity spends more per
customer on building new sources of green energy than all other
energy providers in Britain put together – on average, over the
last nine years, this has equated to almost £300 per customer.
The company currently powers over
75,000 homes and businesses and this year obtained permission for
what will be the fourth largest wind park in England, at Heckington
Fen in Lincolnshire.
