Easy Being Green?

My fixed price gas and energy deal ran out at the end of last month. I managed to get quite lucky with this as the fixed price was lower than the cheapest new deals for almost all of the contract period which is quite fortunate as the contract had a £50 early termination fee. However, having looked at the supplier's new tariffs it would have cost me a hefty £500 per annum to renew with their latest fixed rate so I said a quick Auf Wiedersehen to them and headed off to the comparison sites.

Often the fixed rate deals are amongst the cheapest which, on the face of it, doesn’t make that much sense as it is the supplier who is taking most of the risk with price fluctuations. However, it is the early termination fees that really ties people in which rather explains why people will stick with a fixed deal when prices are dropping. The curious thing I found, though, is that when I did the search the best price was for an energy supplier that had no early termination fee, had variable rates and provided all its electricity from renewable sources.

In fact, it wasn’t just the top one but several of the cheapest electricity providers were all-renewable (or should that be “sustainable” so as not to break the second law of thermodynamics?). It could be that this is something of a marketing ploy but it could also be that the cost of “green” energy is actually getting pretty competitive. Certainly, solar panels are no longer a rare sight on domestic homes and I can see four wind turbines from the end of my garden. The transmission costs alone of this electricity are presumably far cheaper than the nearest coal fired power station which I believe is somewhere in Yorkshire.

So, as it was, I went with the cheap variable rate firm which is a somewhat hippy-dippy outfit called bulb.co.uk and even managed to get another £50 off my bill by clicking on a refer-a-friend link (I’ve never met the guy but he is presumably £50 better off as well now). This sort of viral marketing seems to be quite common but I’ll not look a gift horse in the mouth. If anyone want to give it a go my referral is this https://join.bulb.co.uk/join/quote/rod1556 although I’d strongly suggest checking a comparison site first such as https://www.uswitch.com/.

Anyway, just before I posted this I noticed an email saying that they have reduced my standing charge. Maybe variable rate deals have their advantages after all?