Green Electricity Guide 2022

The 2022 Green Electricity Guide is here. The report is compiled by Greenpeace and ranks the environmental credentials of 48 Australian electricity retailers. Since the Guide was last updated in 2018, there’s been more than a few changes.

How are retailers’ Green credentials ranked?

Energy providers are scored based on survey responses from each retailer. This is also supported by public data, including the Coal Impacts Index, Greenhouse Gas Reporting scheme, and CEO statements.
Across six areas, scores were weighed to determine a final ranking.

• • Providing clean, renewable energy (35% weighting)
  • Ending coal use by 2030 (20% weighting)
  • Halting fossil fuel expansion (20% weighting)
  • Support for new renewable energy (15% weighting)
  • Transparency of marketing (5% weighting)
  • Pollution and environmental harm (5% weighting)
  • Bonus community provider score (Added 10% weighting)

1. Enova Energy
2. Diamond Energy
3. Momentum Energy
4. Aurora Energy (Tasmania only)
5. Indigo Power (Regional NSW and Eastern Victoria only)
6. Energy Locals
7. Nectr
8. CoPower
9. Amber Electric
10. Powershop

We’d like to congratulate our partner retailers Enova Energy (5 stars), Diamond Energy (5 stars) and Energy Locals (4 stars), who ranked 1st, 2nd and 6th, respectively. Energy Locals also provides white-label retail services for Indigo Power (5th) and CoPower (8th); and, until recently, Amber (9th). (Editors note: Our retailer partners Bright Spark Power and ReAmped Energy achieved 3.5 and 3 stars.)

But what about everyone else?

Most of the retailers on the Top 10 list are smaller players. The exceptions are Momentum and Powershop, which serve over 200,000 customers. But what about the retailers that serve the other 95%+ of Australian customers? Let me unpack a couple of areas where I think the Green Electricity Guide struggles in ranking the middle and lower performers. This matters because not every household will shift to smaller retailers. Plus, I’ll explain that while the retailer you choose can help, ultimately, it’s the personal actions you take that make the most significant difference

An axe to grind?

Let’s start at the bottom. AGL ranks last. But when you consider AGL’s renewable investments and the company’s support for solar, batteries (VPP) and electric vehicles this seems like a harsh call.  AGL Solar Savers has been the darling of solar owners for 3-4 years. This plan frequently offered the highest uncapped high feed-in tariffs in many states, aiding the uptake of rooftop solar.

Yes, AGL is Australia’s biggest contributor to CO2 emissions. However, the company is one of Australia’s largest energy generators and retailers. AGL’s portfolio of generation assets is a legacy of the company’s long history and our country’s reliance on fossil fuels. In the 2018 Green Electricity Guide, AGL scored 3 stars. Their level of support for renewables is largely unchanged from 2018, yet their 2022 score has fallen. (Perhaps last year’s legal battles between Greenpeace and AGL were still front of mind.)

Unexpected scores

You’d think that the retailers that have coal-fired generation would receive the lowest rank in the criteria – but that’s not always  the case in the 2022 Green Electricity Guide.

One example is the ranking of Alinta Energy (2 stars) above Simply Energy (1.5 stars). Alinta Energy owns the high polluting Loy Yang B brown coal-fired power station in Victoria. Compare that with Simply Energy. Their parent company Engie has divested itself of coal-fired power stations and Simply is installing fast chargers across Australia; plus is a big supporter of solar, batteries (via VPPs) and EVs. When you consider this, it doesn’t seem to be scored right.

‘Sins of the father.’

Three-quarters of the scoring is heavily weighted to providing clean, renewable energy, ending coal use by 2030 and halting fossil fuel expansion. The Guide, also considers fossil fuel ownership of parent companies – even where Australian entities only own renewable generation. Thereby punishing local operations for the ‘sins of the father’ – hello Powershop and Shell!

Another example is Tango Energy, owned by Pacific Hydro in Australia. While Pacific Hydro owns only renewable generation assets in Australia. their foreign parent company does own coal mines overseas. So, the result is that they score 0 for “Halting Fossil Fuel expansion”. That means there is no credit for Pacific Hydro’s 100% renewable generation assets in Australia in that score. So they are not differentiated from retailers who participate in fossil fuel extraction in Australia.

Hits and misses

Additionally, there are more than a dozen retailers who weren’t included in the 2022 Green Electricity Guide. Plus a number of retailers that don’t have generally available plans – that somehow made the list. For example, consumers with properties in an embedded network, such as an apartment complex, have no opportunity to choose their retailer. So, there’s no real value including these players in the Green Electricity Guide.

Excluded retailers who are current/active as at 10th Feb 2022:

• • • Arc Energy Group
    • Blue NRG
    • Brighte Energy
    • Circular Energy
    • Electricity in a Box
    • Ergon Energy
    • Horizon Power
    • Kogan Energy
    • Members Energy
    • Next Business Energy
    • People Energy
    • Pooled Energy
    • QEnergy
    • Smart Energy
    • Sonnen

Included retailers who are inactive or embedded network operators:

• • • Altogether Group – embedded network provider
    • Commander – closed in 2020
    • Ezi Power – closed in 2020
    • Metered Energy – embedded network provider
    • Real Utilities – embedded network provider
    • WINConnect – embedded network provider

GreenPower mismatch to available plans

We also noted that a number of the GreenPower scores didn’t match retailer’s current offers, namely: