MSE WEEKLY EMAIL: GREEN SPECIAL
Switch to 100% renewable energy. Help the planet & your wallet with £300+/yr savings.

A message from Martin:  UK attitudes and behaviours are changing. Single-use plastics are now often unacceptable, 16-year-old Greta Thunberg recently spoke to Parliament, Extinction Rebellion's cause (if not method) was widely supported and for the first time since 1882, the UK went a whole week without generating electricity from coal.

So we've taken a decision to start investing more journalistic resources into adding options to show you when going greener will save you money, and in areas where it doesn't save you, at how to reduce the cost of going green.

We've a lot of work to get there - it'll take months - but I wanted to make the pledge that we'll do it, and kick off with an initial green focus in this email. Let's start with green energy. Over to the team...
 

In the past, opting for renewable energy tariffs (more on exactly what that means below) was often at a premium, but things have changed. Many of the best challenger energy firms have gone green and cheap as a way to attract new customers - meaning many can make huge savings. The easy thing to do is a comparison...

- Compare all GREEN tariffs, with GOOD (or better) SERVICE
- Compare all GREEN tariffs, including poor service
- Compare ALL tariffs, with GOOD (or better) SERVICE
- Compare ALL tariffs on the market

Yet we want to highlight our top-pick green tariffs. We've excluded some tariffs that are a touch cheaper (even if they're green) as they either have a poor customer service record or are small firms with little to no customer service feedback, which we normally exclude.

• Cheap 1yr 'green' fix: Octopus Energy - 100% green electricity + TOP customer service. SAVE £315/yr.
  
  The new Exclusive Octopus 12M Fixed May 2019 v1 costs an average £938/yr for typical use.  The rate is locked in for a year (so there are no price rises) and it has no early exit fees. Octopus also scored a huge 85% 'great' in our recent customer service poll, putting it top of the service table.
  
  How green is this tariff? It sells 100% renewable electricity, but none of its gas is renewable or offset.
   
• Cheapest 100% green elec and gas: Bulb - very good service rating + £55 MSE boost. SAVE £315/YR.
  
  The Bulb Vari-Fair tariff has been enormously popular over the last year. Bulb now has over 1m customers and received a 76% 'great' rating in our latest service poll.
  
  The tariff comes with the usual £25 dual-fuel MSE cashback, but we've arranged for another £30 bill credit, making it an average £945/yr based on typical use.
  
  This is a variable deal, so the price could rise or fall (Bulb's last two moves have been cuts). If it rises, you can leave penalty-free.
  
  How green is this tariff? It's the greenest of the cheap tariffs - it's 100% renewable electricity, and 10% of its gas comes from renewable sources, while it pays to offset the effect of the rest.
   
• Cheapest green Big 6 (and cheapest Big 6 anyway): British Gas - 100% green elec & gas + 'free' heating insurance + EXISTING BG customers can get it too. SAVE £300/yr.
  
  The BG Energy Plus Protection Green May 2020 is only available via comparison sites. It was good when it launched last month and, as its price has dropped a number of times, it's got even better and is now £942/yr based on typical use, with the rate fixed until May 2020.
  
  It's a no-brainer if you're loyal to BG or prefer a big name. Most also get 12 months' 'free' central heating, plumbing, drains and home electrical cover, but do note: the insurance auto-renews after a year, even if you switch energy (though you can cancel it any time).
  
  How green is this tariff? It is 100% renewable electricity, and while none of the gas is renewable (unlike Bulb above), it pays to offset the effects of 100% of it.
   
• Cheapest green longer fix (and cheapest longer fix anyway): GNE - 100% green electricity + £65 boost, SAVE £300/yr.
  
  With Green Network Energy's GNE Family Green 18 Month Fixed v25, you get the usual £25 MSE cashback plus a £40 bill credit, making it an average £957/yr based on typical use. It's an 18mth fix, so good for longer-term rate certainty.
  
  How green is this tariff? It sells 100% renewable electricity, but none of its gas is renewable or offset.
   
• SUPER GREEN tariff - but SUPER costly too: Green Energy UK - 100% green electricity and 100% green gas.
  
  Green Energy UK's Sparkling Summer 2020  is the only pure 100% renewable tariff on the market we could find, but the price reflects that. Green tariffs do not have to be limited to the price cap and it is therefore over £150/yr more on typical use than a Big 6 standard deal at a whopping £1,419/yr. So clearly it is only for those for whom being green is the most important factor.
  
  How green is this tariff? It's the 'greenest' of the green, with 100% of the electricity renewable and, uniquely, 100% of the gas generated from renewable sources rather than just offset.
   
  What is 'green' energy?

  It typically means creating electricity using the likes of hydro, solar, wave or wind power that do not deplete the Earth's resources - which is why it's often referred to as 'renewable'. Meanwhile, renewable gas comes from the less common method called 'anaerobic digestion', which is the breaking down of biodegradable material.
  
  Normal energy burns fossil fuels such as natural gas, which also releases harmful gases. There's also nuclear energy, but that is controversial.
  
  If you want to go green, it's more about the tariff than the firm, as one company may have many tariffs that vary in 'greenness'.
  
  But even if you go green, the gas and electricity you use will contain a mix of 'green' and 'dirty' energy, as we get it from the nationwide network that's fed from multiple sources. Standard energy is typically made up of 38% natural gas, 24% wind & solar, 15% nuclear, 10% bioenergy, 6% coal, 2% hydro and the rest from other sources (such as oil).
  
  So if you buy a 'green' energy tariff, what does it actually mean?

  • 100% renewable electricity. This is the most common claim you'll see. While your energy won't all be green, your supplier will buy enough renewable energy from the network to match your use, so the net effect of you using a 100% renewable supplier is as if all your energy was renewable. This also encourages more renewable investment.
     
  • 100% green gas. This comes in two types:
    
    - Firstly, there's renewable gas (from anaerobic digestion). But it's rare to have even 10% renewable gas, let alone 100%. Like with electricity above, your gas won't all be green, but your supplier will put the amount you use back into the network as renewable gas.
    
    - The other method, carbon offsetting, isn't actually renewable, but is green. What firms do is simply 'offset' the effect of 'dirty' gas by paying to plant more trees, which has the same positive effect as your usage has a negative effect.
     

Ultimately, the best way to save money and go green is to reduce your energy usage. So here are our top tips to cut back:

• Free loft and cavity wall insulation - worth £700+. Some firms offer this to suitable homes if you're on certain benefits. See how to get insulation and if it's right for you.
   
• Solar panels - are they worth it? They cut your bills and are environmentally-friendly, but they're expensive to install and new sign-ups no longer get paid to generate electricity (don't worry if you're paid already, that continues). Are solar panels worth it?
   
• Is it REALLY best to leave the heating on low all day? Find out the truth behind this and 16 other energy saving conundrums (eg, should you paint radiators black?) in Energy Mythbusting.
   
• Turn your heating down to 18 degrees - save £80/yr per degree lower. That's the gain according to the Energy Saving Trust, which also recommends setting it to 18-21 degrees. But even if yours is at 21, why not try lower? And as it's warmer, do you need it on at all?
   
• Oh... and why not just put on a jumper if cold? Sometimes the simplest ways are the best. Also, check out old-style tips to keep warm, such as making a DIY sausage dog.