Late last night I was researching the internet for an alternative electricity supplier. This was mainly brought about by my frustration with my current supplier, and not being able to give my meter reading (after receiving an overestimated bill) online or by the automated phone system. A real person adviser was non-existent after phoning for over two weeks at various times of the day. I even sent a complaint by email saying that I cannot get someone to answer the phone nor submit my reading online or by any other method, only to receive an 'automated no-reply email' that said someone would deal with my complaint, within 10 days. Meanwhile, two reminder letters from the company were sent to me within 3 days of each other, telling me that if I didn't pay immediately I would have to pay an estimated bill every month by direct debit, and that even a debt collector may be sent to my house.
Considering I'd been trying to pay (the correct amount) for the past couple of weeks at least, and was feeling stressed at not being able to sort this out anytime soon, this just felt like the last straw. Finally, yesterday I managed to speak to an adviser on the phone, being willing to pay the overestimated bill now just for peace of mind rather than have a new and accurate bill sent out and having to go through this whole rigmarole again, only to be told that their payments system was down that day and can I phone back tomorrow?
It had taken weeks already to manage to speak to a human being and they want me to try phoning again tomorrow?
During my research on this company (they upset me last quarter as well by putting a message on the bill telling me I must do this or that, which they later said was an error that went out on a lot of bills) I realised that they get a lot of their energy from nuclear power. And I really don't want to support the nuclear power industry anyway. I found a website that gives a breakdown of what sources of energy each company uses, and I had a lot of fun with that. I don't have any problem with natural gas or even coal, like I do with the idea of radioactive waste and leakages, and I don't buy into the official version of the story about global warming. They don't understand ascension, nor that we are in for a global cooling (mini ice age according to Kryon). I'd personally prefer the climate to warm up than to cool down. So looking for a greener company was less about any 'carbon footprint' (the phrase I hate the most when I hear or read it) and more about not supporting the nuclear industry.
I read a lot of consumer reviews too, both on forums and on comparison websites, and I knew that there would not be a company that doesn't have some negative feedback as things can and do go 'wrong' from time to time. But the one I chose had the least, and I wanted to support a greener company because when other, newer sources of green (or free) energy are discovered or invented, these green energy companies are more likely to support and use it. So even though I feel we will not stay long with solar, wind or other types of alternative energy we currently have, they are certainly preferable to supporting the building of new nuclear power stations.
It takes a few weeks for the transfer to be complete, and I will update if there are any problems, but I have only transferred the electricity, not the gas (so far). Up until the 1990s, UK domestic energy consumers could not switch gas and electricity suppliers. Deregulation of the gas market in May 1998, and electricity 12 months later, gave consumers the power to choose any company they wanted to supply their domestic energy. So this blog post is mainly for the benefit of English readers who may not have thought of switching companies (just like I didn't until all the aggravation with my present one ensued), or who just go with the cheapest, although this one is matching the same prices as the cheapest one I was with. I would however have even been prepared to pay a little more though.
For other countries with deregulated energy markets, it is worth doing the online research and comparisons. The energy company I have transferred to, Ecotricity, only supplies England. I have supplied links at the end of this post for UK readers to do their own research. They all contribute energy to the national grid, so nothing changes at your end apart from the billing company. At the other end you are supporting, nationally, where we get our energy from. I went to bed about 3.00am after having fun with all this, and the next day when I went back to the Ecotricity website I saw on their home page "Thank you. Our 50,000th customer just joined us. We're chuffed."
Hmmm........I wonder if they meant me?
Then I went to listen to an Abraham video (as I'm overstuffed with long written channels and can't face reading even one more right now) and this was the first one that leaped out at me 'Dreaming of Windmills' LOL. A cosmic wink?
Reading about the owner of the company, Dale Vince, is rather interesting too. This is from his blog.
"Truthfully, I’ve been concerned about the sustainability of life since I was a kid.
In the early 90’s I was living on a hill, in an ex military vehicle I called home, using a small windmill to power the lights and stuff. I’d spent the previous ten years or so living ‘on the road’ searching for an alternative way to live. I was what the media would call a ‘new age traveller’.
That’s when I was inspired to ‘drop in’ and promote the use of large-scale wind energy – to bring change to the electricity industry. That was the start of this long journey.
The idea for Ecotricity – of selling green electricity to people, came about a few years later – it was about getting a fair price for wind power, to enable more to be built. And so Ecotricity started in 1995. Green electricity was a totally new idea back then. It just didn’t exist, as a choice, before Ecotricity."
And explaining green energy on the Ecotricity website:
"When we talk about Green Energy, we mean electricity and gas made from renewable sources – we mean Green Electricity; made from the elements, the Wind, The Sun and the Sea – and Green Gas; made from food waste and from algae.
And we don't just supply Green Energy we make it ourselves."
And from an article in the Telegraph (27 May 2011):
'Ecotricity operates a not-for-dividend model – reinvesting income from customers' bills directly into new sources of renewable energy. It claims to have invested an average of £387 per customer per year for the past six years in building new sources of green energy – more than 10 times as much as any other British energy company. 'The other guys just buy existing green electricity and usually charge a premium for it.'
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For others who do not wish to support the nuclear power industry, here are some links (relevant to UK only):
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Update: 4 Sept 2011 - Since writing this blog post I had a conversation with a neighbour, who after mentioning to him I changed electricity supplier to something 'greener' laughed and called me a 'hippy', and went on to state that nuclear power is a clean energy.
So, considering the nuclear disaster in Japan and other countries, and the radioactive waste that such an industry produces, this following video (about the Japan earthquake/tsunami and the damage to the nuclear reactor) is for people like him who thinks this is a clean energy source. Decide for yourself.
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