Ovo Energy has called for an end to greenwashing in the UK’s energy industry and slammed “outdated” Ofgem-administered renewable guarantee certificates.
“It’s time to expose our industry’s dirty secret and face some hard truths,” Ovo chief executive Raman Bhatia said on Tuesday.
Ovo, which took over SSE PLC (LSE:SSE)’s retail wing in 2020 to become one of the UK’s largest suppliers, said it would no longer invest in Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO) certificates, which are meant to clarify that power comes from sustainable sources.
Also highlighting supplier tariffs which claim to be 100% renewable, Ovo pointed to systematic greenwashing in the UK’s energy market.
“The energy mix that actually flows into consumers’ homes is the same whatever tariff they choose,” Bhatia warned.
“At best, these tariffs [including REGOs] run the risk of giving customers a good but misleading feeling about being green.”
Ovo itself offers ‘100% green’ tariffs, alongside the likes of British Gas, E.ON and Octopus Energy, which claim to source household energy from renewables or otherwise offset emissions.
Instead of spending on REGOs, Ovo said it would divert investments into domestic solar and wind projects and called on its rivals to do the same, arguing prices were high because the UK is still reliant on fossil fuels sourced from overseas.
Further steps should also be taken by the government to decouple electricity and gas prices, Ovo added, alongside a reshuffle of windfall taxes on electricity generators, introduced in January.
Shares in energy firms Centrica PLC (LSE:CNA), SSE PLC (LSE:SSE) and Drax Group (LSE:DRX) fell 2%, 1% and 1% respectively on the news.