energy news

UK suppliers behind on renewables targets


2nd March, 2010

UK suppliers behind on renewables targets

Energy companies in the UK could meet targets for renewable energy generation, if they invested only £30 a customer for the next ten years, according to a new study.

The green supplier Ecotricity has called for "people before profits" in order to pre-empt the energy crisis in 2020 predicted by the regulator Ofgem.

Ecotricity calculated in its report, based on publicly available figures from Ofgem, that none of the UK's suppliers were investing enough money to meet the government's target for 15 per cent energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Of the two biggest suppliers, Scottish Power was the closest to the minimum with £25.79 per customer, while Centrica fell almost a third short of the target at £11.07.

The 'not-for-dividend' model of Ecotricity means that it topped the league in 2009, by investing around £76.88 per customer.

Dale Vince, the founder of Ecotricity, said: "The Big Six energy companies in Britain haven't even come close to meeting their minimum legal obligation to build more new sources of green energy.

"We're calling on them to adopt our business model for the next ten years, forgo dividend payments and spend



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