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Eon, one of the UK's "Biggest" energy providers, will transfer all its residential customers to 100% renewable electricity, making it the largest utility to switch to green supply.
The company, which supplies 3.3 million UK households, has announced that all its customers would be transferred from renewable electricity supplies as of Tuesday, adding that it wanted to let the market know that more power would be needed. wind and solar energy.
"First of all, that's what customers want," said Michael Lewis, Managing Director of Eon UK. "But we also want to send to the wholesale market the message that we want to encourage the use of renewable energies."
Eon is not the first British energy supplier to claim that it provides all its customers with carbon-free electricity. Shell Energy – known as First Utility before its acquisition by Shell in March – and energy competitor Bulb also claim to provide 100% electricity to their customers.
However, the decision of the German group will encourage its rivals to do the same, with customer surveys indicating a growing preference for electricity derived from green energy sources.
Eon has announced its intention to provide much of the electricity via its own 1.8 GW renewable energy sources, in addition to agreements with independent producers of wind power.
The balance will be charged to purchases made under the certification system of the guarantee of origin of renewable energies, managed by the regulator Ofgem. A Rego certificate is issued for each unit of electricity generated from a renewable source put on the grid.
This decision could raise questions about the need for the UK to accelerate the expansion of its renewable energy capacity if more utilities follow suit.
The United Kingdom is expected to produce more than 50% of its electricity from low-carbon sources this year, including nuclear power, but much of it is still generated by the burning of natural gas in power plants.
Eon said its renewable energy sources would not include those from the nuclear, but many badysts believe that atomic energy will have to be part of the mix if the UK wants to achieve its goal of Zeroing of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The change will not apply to Eon's industrial customers, who purchase just under half of the company's electricity supply in the UK and can already choose only renewable tariffs. The move does not apply to gas supplies either.
The Eon announcement comes at a time when historic utilities facing new competitors such as Bulb, Ovo Energy and Shell Energy are urging a quarter of consumers to opt for one of the new suppliers, as a result of government and regulatory decisions. promote increased competition in the market.
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