Low energy users pay more per unit

Many people who are interested in low energy homes are in fact less profligate in their use of energy than most just because they are aware of the cost to pocket and planet.

But the way that the energy companies organise their pricing structures means that the first units used cost more, while energy used above a certain threshold becomes cheaper. This is rather unfair if you are a very low user, so it is worth shopping around to see if you would pay less with a different energy company.

I understand (but have not fully checked the details) that the Co-op has a flat rate deal that may work out cheaper for those who use less energy. You can also check on the website for details of the energy mix to get an idea of how "green" their energy is.

Other companies who focus on renewable energy over fossil fuels are Good Energy and Ecotricity

Where does your electricity come from?

13 Jan '11: Electricity companies are obliged to reveal their sources of power, but not all of them are keen to make it too obvious. Ecotricity, for example make a big fuss about this, even in the choice of their name, yet they are using a proportion of Nuclear power, presumably because by some definition the lack of burning coal makes it green, somehow.
  This website, electricityinfo.org is useful because it does show an up to date breakdown of the sources for each company. The only one that I can find that is 100% renewable based (Wind farms, home microgeneration etc) is Good Energy.
 There is a click link from this site to a 'Green Energy selector' which compares tariffs from companies who have sizeable proportions of renewable energy as their course.
http://www.electricityinfo.org/suppliers.php List of Suppliers and their green component.
http://www.greenelectricity.org/ Another site that enables you to compare green tariffs and make the switch. Good Energy are more expensive than others, but they are the only 100% renewable.

Support for the Feed in Tariff

30 Sept '10: DNC writes: It's unfortunate that the Coalition government, having promised to be "Greener than Gordon Brown's government" have allowed rumours to grow and destabilize our confidence in the Feed in Tariffs.

If you are an early adopter, and installed PV before July 2009, they will not retro-engineer the FiT, so the best deal going seems to be with Good Energy. GE will continue to pay microgenerators on its HomeGen scheme who had their systems installed before 1st February 2010, and aren't eligible for the higher FiT rate. This amounts to15p per unit generated until April 2011, 5 times the amount that other utilities will pay. I don't know if this applies to you if you join them now, because initially, it seems to be a loyalty payment for those who have been with GE for a while. For my system they kept their word and sent me payment at 15p a unit for the period Oct 2009 to April 2010.

Please join the http://wesupportsolar.net/ website group and send the emails to Chris Huhne and others, to make sure that there is no regressing on the Feed in Tariffs. To me, there is a fair case for reviewing the original FIT idea on other systems such as Biomass and Heat Pumps, as it was hard to quantify the income and earnings. With PV, there is an OfGem meter, and the amounts generated and the amounts imported through the house meter are completely clear, and are very difficult to falsify, so there should be no altering of this scheme. Flexibility is built into the existing scheme by their ability to tweak todays's figure of 41.3p, so it would be better to let that scheme continue. Home generators are, collectively, reducing the need for power stations to be burning Columbian coal or imported oil or gas, so are good for the country as a whole, making use more energy independent.