For many people, finding a better priced energy plan is hard enough, let alone trying to find one that also ticks the ‘green choice’ box when making energy purchasing decisions for your home.
According to Greenpeace, switching electricity providers is one of the quickest and easiest ways you can make a BIG impact. By switching to a greener electricity provider, you’re helping to transform Australia’s electricity system. By choosing a provider that generates or buys energy from renewable sources, you’re voting with your wallet and signalling to all energy companies that you want them to get serious about tackling climate change.
The Green Electricity Guide lists the top 10 ‘greenest electricity providers’ in Victoria here . It’s one way to help you to decide where you want to spend your energy dollars. It also lists the worst offenders when it comes to climate pollution.
Another way is to opt for a percentage of GreenPower in your energy plan. GreenPower is an independent, government accredited program that allows you to match a percentage of your electricity usage with certified renewable energy. Many electricity retailers offer anywhere from 10 to 100% GreenPower options as part of their plans. Choosing GreenPower does cost a little extra – and those additional cents per kWh can vary between retailers and States.
Does choosing green mean paying more?
Does this mean that by choosing GreenPower you will end up paying more for your energy? As expected, the average non-GreenPower offer is lower than the average 100% GreenPower offer in all states. However, according to a recent report by the St Vincent de Paul Society which did a deep dive into GreenPower costs and offers, the lowest GreenPower offers can be very competitively priced and can even produce lower annual bills than some non-GreenPower offers.
So what motivates people to switch retailers? In research that we did, we saw a wide range of reasons, but as you’d expect, the biggest of these was to get a better price. It also revealed that 30 per cent of ethically driven energy consumers are still keen to find a better offer when they go green.
Our top three recommendations on helpful resources:
- Download the Joulius app and create an account.
- Upload a recent electricity bill to the app, and select the ‘Green Offers’ tab.
- Browse all the energy providers with GreenPower offerings and select the one that suits you.
- Visit the Green Electricity Guide by Greenpeace
- The Green Electricity Guide is an independent assessment of Australia’s electricity retailers, which is designed to demystify Australia’s electricity landscape and help consumers make more informed decisions about their energy choices.
- Published by Greenpeace (and updated in February 2022) , they have assessed 48 electricity providers Australia-wide, scoring them from 5 stars down to zero, based on surveys, public statements and data obtained about the provider through organisations including the Clean Energy Regulator.
- Check out: GreenPower: Unpacking the costs and comparability of offers.
- This recent report from the St Vincent de Paul Society examines the various GreenPower options marketed by retailers, and compares them in terms of price competitiveness and the amount of GreenPower included, across States.
With a little bit of research, it’s easy to find either a retailer with green credentials or a GreenPower option to suit your budget, or a combination of the two. Check out our story about this in the Eco Voice online magazine. Joulius can help you compare your current electricity costs against all retailers, including the ability to search on offers with GreenPower options.
