At the suggestion of my sister, some years ago, I made the switch to an eco friendly energy supplier. (As an inducement, they promised her a free bottle of wine which never arrived. I like to think that they were inundated with requests and ran out of wine.) That was for 100% renewable electricity, and some years later I was prompted to sign up to the supplier’s dual energy supply which includes carbon-neutral gas.
My sister at the time was installing solar panels and taking advantage of energy exchange schemes through which electricity generated at her home would be fed back into the wider energy grid and reduce her bills. In light of her brave schemes, it seemed to me that signing up for eco electricity was the least I could contribute. I don’t have to go and generate my own electricity, after all.
The thing is, in among all the other things we have to pay for, the increase in energy costs is fairly easy to accommodate. And since we pay by direct debit monthly instead of by cheque quarterly in the old way, the expense is hardly noticed. I got a kick out of telling my previous supplier that no, I wasn’t looking for cheaper energy as I had signed up with an eco-supplier and was very happy to have done so. The chap on the phone didn’t seem to realise that threatening me – “you are making a big mistake, you’ll regret it” – I paraphrase – would hardly endear me to his company or to his company’s ethos.
I have tended to find that, the smaller I live my life – the more I try to scrimp and save on costs – the smaller my life becomes. Doing my bit by signing up for eco electricity and gas seems to be a small gesture in the right direction that might make a big difference. The larger utilities companies are now beginning to wake up to increased demand for eco fuel, and I have myself seen how change can be consumer led.
February 9, 2020
Switch to an eco friendly energy supplier
Fran Macilvey Happiness Matters 0 Comments
Switch to an eco friendly energy supplier
At the suggestion of my sister, some years ago, I made the switch to an eco friendly energy supplier. (As an inducement, they promised her a free bottle of wine which never arrived. I like to think that they were inundated with requests and ran out of wine.) That was for 100% renewable electricity, and some years later I was prompted to sign up to the supplier’s dual energy supply which includes carbon-neutral gas.
My sister at the time was installing solar panels and taking advantage of energy exchange schemes through which electricity generated at her home would be fed back into the wider energy grid and reduce her bills. In light of her brave schemes, it seemed to me that signing up for eco electricity was the least I could contribute. I don’t have to go and generate my own electricity, after all.
The thing is, in among all the other things we have to pay for, the increase in energy costs is fairly easy to accommodate. And since we pay by direct debit monthly instead of by cheque quarterly in the old way, the expense is hardly noticed. I got a kick out of telling my previous supplier that no, I wasn’t looking for cheaper energy as I had signed up with an eco-supplier and was very happy to have done so. The chap on the phone didn’t seem to realise that threatening me – “you are making a big mistake, you’ll regret it” – I paraphrase – would hardly endear me to his company or to his company’s ethos.
I have tended to find that, the smaller I live my life – the more I try to scrimp and save on costs – the smaller my life becomes. Doing my bit by signing up for eco electricity and gas seems to be a small gesture in the right direction that might make a big difference. The larger utilities companies are now beginning to wake up to increased demand for eco fuel, and I have myself seen how change can be consumer led.
Thanks for listening.
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