Good Energy’s new chief executive has heavily criticised fellow disruptor brand Bulb over the latter’s approach to providing renewable energy.
Nigel Pocklington, who took over from founder Juliet Davenport in May, outlined his grievances in a blog in which he questioned Bulb’s green credentials.
In the blog he points to research by both Good Energy and Scottish Power which found just four per cent of Bulb’s green tariffs are supplied by power bought from renewable generators.
He argues the majority of the 29 generators which directly supply Bulb are too small to provide power to its more than 1.6 million customers. He points to Bulb stating it buys the rest of its power from the wholesale market which he claims means the supplier is actually ‘greenwashing’ its tariffs.
During an interview with Utility Week, Pocklington singled out Bulb further.
He said: “Bulb is an interesting company because it has garnered a lot of praise and publicity for the way in which they’ve scaled the business, the would-be consumer friendly stance they’ve taken and the renewable sourcing that they claim to have and I think the reality doesn’t bear that out.
“As we said in the piece we wrote, if you dig into what they’re claiming, it could be as little as four per cent of their mix that is genuinely coming from renewables. There is also a broader consumer point which is I don’t think the way they are behaving is always as consumer friendly as they like to claim.”
He further explained that greenwashing is a “considerable consumer protection scandal” and that consumer awareness of the issue remains low.
He added: “A lot of people want to do the right thing. And they are doing, by buying a green tariff. It’s one of those areas where there may be a regulatory lag between consumers and the way the market is developing and what the regulations say, but we will continue to push this pretty hard.
“I am very keen to engage with the price comparison sector on this topic. You can see Uswitch doing some very interesting and pioneering work on digging into what makes up a tariff and I think that’s a fantastic development of theirs and hope others pay attention to that and follow.
“We will carry on pushing the topic of consumer awareness and we were very critical of Bulb for example on that score because I think it’s a poorly understood area and the regulations are lagging where we need to be.”
Responding to the Good Energy chief’s claims, a Bulb spokesperson said: “We think it’s important people know where their energy comes from and we’ve always been transparent about our fuel mix, which is 100 per cent renewable. Getting to net zero is a huge global effort and we don’t think it’s as simple as debating PPAs (power purchase agreements) and REGOs (renewable energy guarantees of origin certificates).
“Taking energy efficient products mainstream will be essential to help the UK reach net zero. As well as providing affordable, renewable energy to our 1.7 million customers, we’re building technology that will transform how we use energy. And we’re a B Corp, which means we meet rigorous standards of social and environmental impact.”
Utility Week’s full interview with Nigel Pocklington is available to read here.