Energy suppliers generate and sell energy that has been derived from both traditional source and increasingly from renewable sources as well. But there is no such thing as knowing where the bits you are using came from.You can elect to use green energy through your Utilities company and sometimes this is a fixed charge and other times you will pay an average of 7 cents more per KWh if you decide to go with 100 percent green energy.This is how it works. When you buy green energy, the electricity company commits to buying green energy from a green energy producer. The green energy producer's electricity is fed into the grid along with all other suppliers.While you can't separate the green energy from fossil fuel generated energy, you can be sure that your investment is in real green energy as the law requires the amount purchased to reflect what is sold to you.If you know what your usage is, you can easily calculate the cost to you, but an average Australian household uses around 16kWh per day. You can choose to go less than 100 percent green energy and this is something that people do when they can't afford to pay the slightly higher rate for 100 percent. You can literally take whatever percentage of green power you wish.Every little bit counts so do what you can, even if it's only a little. Know that you are making a contribution to future green infrastructure for renewable energy projects. The more users, the more viable the model and eventually energy will be cheaper as a result.
Thanks for this article. I had no idea how green energy was passed on to customers. Great to know and as you say, every little bit helps even if you're not using 100% green energy. Thursday, 1 March 2018
Green energy is purchased through GreenPower in all the major states except WA. Essentially, GreenPower guarantee through stringent audit that the renewable energy you think you are buying is the real deal.
You can compare your own energy use to your own postcode or any other postcode in Australia on Energy Made Easy.