In a survey of more than 900 people, the consumer organisation found that 72 per cent said they expect that companies selling green tariffs will buy renewable electricity from other companies or generators, while a similar number (67 per cent) expect that the company generates its own renewable electricity.
To be able to call a tariff ‘green’ or ‘renewable’, a supplier matches the electricity consumers use with energy generated from a renewable source.
They do this with renewable energy certificates or REGOs (renewable energy guarantees of origin). But these certificates are not attached to the power, so companies can buy and sell them separately – and often cheaply.
The Committee on Climate Change has said that unbundling REGOs from power “could mean that the supplier of the green tariff is not actually purchasing renewable electricity, but it’s simply purchasing the certificate.”
Which? said that the rules about marketing green tariffs and supplier...