Green Energy Suppliers
Who supplies green energy in the UK? There are now a number of British energy providers who now exclusively supply green electricity with a few who also supply green gas or run an offsetting scheme to offset the carbon created from using natural gas.
If you are looking for a green energy supply and want to switch to a greener tariff in order to reduce your environmental impact on the planet it can be confusing.
Unfortunately it is not easy to distinguish between the energy companies who are genuinely trying to make a difference and those that are just a 'greenwash'.
suppliers can buy power from anywhere — coal, gas, nuclear. Then they can bulk-buy these green certificates from a broker, and 'greenwash' the brown power they have bought for about £1 per household per year. - Good Energy.
Fortunately we've created a really good roundup of the best green energy suppliers in the UK to sort the wheat from the chaff.
What is green energy
When we talk about green energy in the UK we are normally just referring to electricity rather than gas. Green gas production in the UK is still in its infancy, if you want to find a really green supplier look at our well researched article on green energy suppliers.
So for green energy we mean electricity generated from wind, solar, hydro and biomass (burning energy crops, woodchip and bio and landfill gas to generate electricity).
In 2019 according to Ofgem in the UK we generated about a third of all our electricity from renewables. Renewables accounted for 36.9%, the rest of the UK's electricity was generated by gas 40.9%, nuclear 17.4%, oil and other 2.7% and coal 2.1%.
UK List of green energy suppliers
The energy suppliers listed supply at least one green renewable energy tariff which will offer 100% green renewable electricity. Some utilities offer exclusively green energy tariffs and also offer some additional green credentials such as green gas and offsetting.
| Supplier | Monthly cost £ |
| Outfox The Market | £71.62 |
| Green | £71.88 |
| London Power | £72.33 |
| Powershop | £72.83 |
| Yorkshire Energy | £74.41 |
| Pure Planet | £74.45 |
| Shell Energy | £75.32 |
| People's Energy | £75.79 |
| British Gas | £75.86 |
| Gulf Energy | £75.95 |
| Tonik | £75.96 |
| iSupply Energy | £76.08 |
| Goto Energy | £76.40 |
| Coop Energy | £76.46 |
| EDF | £76.76 |
| So Energy | £76.88 |
| Green Star Energy | £78.72 |
| Octopus Energy | £80.09 |
| Bulb | £81.12 |
| M&S Energy | £81.20 |
| Green Network Energy | £81.39 |
| Together Energy | £81.86 |
| Scottish Power | £84.48 |
| Good Energy | £91.16 |
| Ecotricity | £97.56 |
| Green Energy UK | £115.21 |
The list is ordered with the cheaper suppliers listed first running to the most expensive energy suppliers.
The monthly cost for a typical UK household is shown for the cheapest green tariff from each energy provider. The prices are for illustration and where correct at the time the quotes were generated in September 2020.
Whilst all of these suppliers offer a green energy tariff they are by no means equal. Ecotricity and Good Energy and Green Energy UK are all nearer the end of the list as they are more expensive but they are true drivers of change in the industry. Conversely suppliers like Green Network Energy are also expensive but don't do as much as the truly green energy companies. Choose one of these suppliers to make the biggest difference.
Rather than relying on buying Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO) certificates from the market they either generate the energy themselves from wind and solar or have direct partnerships with small scale green energy generators in the UK.
Compare green energy supplier prices
If you are looking for a green energy supplier because you want to make a difference then you need to look at the green energy suppliers that are making a difference.
These are the suppliers that generate green renewable energy themselves, invest in green energy infrastructure and support renewable energy generators in the UK.
Unfortunately supporting truly green energy costs more but you will be making the biggest difference. Suppliers such as Good Energy and Ecotricity do this.
However not everyone can afford to pay that bit extra, fortunately there are some cheaper green energy suppliers who do better than other cheap green energy suppliers.
Green and Octopus Energy are both highly rated green energy suppliers.
The mid priced green energy supplier Bulb is a reliable company with good feedback and offers a fair priced tariff. It does buy 20% of its renewable electricity directly from the generators.
You can compare green energy suppliers prices here and just look for the tariffs that have the Green Plan labels on them.
Using an energy comparison tool is the easiest way to pick out a green energy tariff as it shows you how much it will cost you based on how much gas and electricity you use and what part of the country you live in. Yes, unfortunately prices are regionally fixed in the UK so some parts of the country pay less than others which is why it is important to do a comparison yourself.
How to choose a green energy supplier
Choosing a green energy supplier depends on what your aim is when switching to a renewable energy supplier.
If cost is not your primary concern then switching to Good Energy, Ecotricity or Green Energy UK will make the biggest difference. Yes, they are the most expensive suppliers (£20 to £40 more than the cheapest green tariff) but that is only because they invest some of the money from your energy bill on improving renewable energy generation in the UK. They are investing in this country and helping to reduce carbon and pollution by not using dirty energy.
Not everyone can afford to pay that extra money each month on their household energy bills even if it makes more of a difference. However even 100% renewable energy tariffs purchased through REGO's will still make a difference.
As you can see from our list of green energy suppliers there are some cheap energy deals you can switch to and still make a difference. You'll be sending a message to other UK energy suppliers to say you want green energy rather than burning natural gas to generate electricity, much of this gas being purchased from outside the UK.
Switching to a green tariff will likely save you money compared to the tariff you are currently on. At the time of researching the domestic energy prices 6 of the top 10 cheapest energy deals were green.
If you want to dig deeper then visit the energy suppliers website and see if the energy supplier is making a difference. It can be quite difficult to find the suppliers green credentials on their websites which is one of the reasons the list of green UK energy suppliers was created.
You can do a quick energy comparison and see for yourself which green energy deal is cheapest for you.