Switching your electricity supplier to a 100% renewable tariff is the most effective climate action available to most UK households. It takes around ten minutes, costs the same or less than a standard tariff, and saves around 1.2 tonnes of CO2 per year for a typical home.
There is genuinely no good reason not to do this first.
When you sign up to a renewable tariff, your supplier matches the electricity you use with renewable generation - typically through Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGO) certificates. The electricity that comes through your plug is the same grid electricity as everyone else's, but the supplier guarantees that an equivalent amount of renewable electricity has been added to the grid on your behalf.
Some suppliers go further than REGOs - Octopus Energy, for example, directly funds new renewable generation and operates its own wind and solar capacity.
Not all green tariffs are equal. Some suppliers buy cheap REGOs from old hydroelectric dams in Norway and claim to be 100% renewable without investing in new UK generation. Look for:
Octopus Energy consistently tops independent ratings for renewable credentials, customer service and value. Their Intelligent Octopus tariff offers significantly cheaper overnight electricity for EV charging and heat pump running. Their Agile tariff tracks wholesale electricity prices in half-hour slots - useful if you can shift usage to cheaper, greener periods.
Switching takes around ten minutes at octopus.energy. You don't need to do anything with your current supplier - Octopus handles the switch.
Green gas tariffs exist but are more complex. Green gas (biomethane) is genuinely lower carbon than natural gas, but supply is limited and the market is less mature. If you heat with gas, the more impactful action is insulating your home and planning for a heat pump when your boiler needs replacing - rather than switching to a green gas tariff as a substitute.
Switch your electricity. Do it today. The carbon saving is real, the cost is comparable, and it takes ten minutes. Everything else on this page is secondary to this one action.
