Leicester Mercury column on switching your energy supplier - 23rd November 2012

A member of our group had a column published in the Leicester Mercury today. Unfortunately, they don't put First Person columns on their website so we thought we'd put it on ours...

"The news of more price rises, just as the weather gets cold, has re-awakened the debate about where we get our energy from. The 'Big Six' energy companies dominate the market and seem to announce their price rises at the same time so that there is never very much difference between them. They all rely on burning imported fossil fuels to produce most of their electricity and as these become increasingly scarce, the prices can only continue to go up. We also know that we need to reduce our emissions from burning fossil fuels if we are to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

However, there is a solution. We can produce our electricity from the wind, the sun and the sea - renewable energy that will not run out or fill the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. We would no longer need to import coal and gas from other countries and anxiously watch the prices creep up. It would even boost our ailing economy - the 'green' sector is one of the few that has prospered over the last few years and the British solar industry now provides jobs for 29,000 people.
The Committee on Climate Change has advised the Government that we need to produce electricity without emitting CO2 by 2030 in order to tackle climate change. What's more, renewable energy is popular with voters - in a poll, 70% of people supported moving away from imported coal and gas and on to clean British energy. But the Government is being very slow to take action. They are currently putting together their Energy Bill and so far the plans look like they will trap us into a high carbon future and leave us with a lot of dangerous nuclear waste to deal with.

We need to remind the Government that they should be listening to the people who vote for them, not to the energy companies who want to make a quick profit. If you are one of the 70%, you can reduce your carbon footprint and support renewable energy by changing your electricity supplier. There are some companies who already generate most of their electricity from renewable resources and if enough people choose to buy green electricity the Government will have to put it at the top of their agenda. It isn't expensive - I changed to Ecotricity earlier this year and my bills didn't go up. In fact, Ecotricity are one of the few companies who haven't just announced a price rise. If you switch your supplier through Transition Leicester's website, the energy companies will donate money to local environmental projects as well.

It is always tempting to feel powerless in the face of climate change and a lazy Government, but this is one situation where the solution is easy - we can choose for ourselves who we buy our energy from."

Hannah Wakley