Scottish Power’s pledge to supply all customers on new fixed rate tariffs with 100 per cent renewable electricity from its own windfarms was a “natural step” for the company, according to the chief executive of its retail arm, Andrew Ward.
He said the decision was prompted by growing public concern over the environment and the climate crisis in recent years; as a vertically integrated company with a large and growing renewable portfolio, Scottish Power was in an ideal position to respond.
Announcing the decision on Monday, the company drew a contrast with suppliers that greenwash their tariffs by purchasing REGO certificates from renewables generators without buying the accompanying power.
Ward told Utility Week their new tariffs will give customers confidence their bills are being reinvested in renewables: “The more customers we get, the more windfarms we’ll build.”
He said Scottish Power already has enough generation to meet the needs of all 1.5 million of its household customers throughout the entire year and added that there is plenty more in the pipeline.
This includes its mammoth East Anglia project, which could eventually provide up to 3.8GW of capacity. The first phase, East Anglia One (744MW), is currently under construction and is due to be commissioned later this year.
If demand outstrips supply then power purchase agreements with other generators will be used as a stop-gap measure until more generation can be brought online. “No paper. No REGO certificates,” Ward explained. “We’re talking real contracts for that specific wind energy.”
He said the move represents a huge turnaround for the company which started life decades ago as a coal generator. Scottish Power closed Longannet – it’s last coal-fired power station – in March 2016.
At the beginning of 2019, the company sold its entire gas and hydro portfolio, totalling 2.6GW of capacity, to Drax for £702 million. It also revealed plans in December to install solar arrays and batteries alongside its existing onshore windfarms and apply the same hybrid model for the “vast majority” of future projects.