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Good Energy in carbon transparency for UK businesses 

Good Energy is taking significant steps towards transparency in the UK’s energy sector. The company is introducing a pioneering service that offers transparent, time-based energy matching to all its half-hourly metered business customers.  

Good Energy sales and origination director Tom Parsons

This service enables customers to see in real-time how their energy usage aligns with the renewable power generated by Good Energy’s portfolio of nearly 400 renewable generators across the UK. 

By providing 24/7 ‘carbon-free energy’ data, Good Energy aims to revolutionise carbon reporting for businesses, allowing them to make informed decisions to reduce their emissions. Notably, Good Energy is the first UK energy supplier to offer such a service to all its business customers, and it does so without any additional cost to them. 

Good Energy is collaborating with software provider Granular Energy to implement this innovative offering. This partnership aims to align the energy usage of business customers with the output of a diverse range of renewable generators. Over the next 12 months, Good Energy plans to extend this service to include over 2,000 generators from which it procures power. 

Half-hourly view of carbon emissions

Following successful trials of the Granular Energy platform with select customers, including circular fashion manufacturer Teemill and the Bristol-based inland surfing destination The Wave, Good Energy is preparing to expand the offering to a broader customer base, including The Soil Association and natural skincare brand Haeckels. 

This initiative enables Good Energy’s larger business customers, who account for a substantial electricity consumption (equivalent to around 92,000 households), to track their energy usage in real-time against renewable generation output.  

Unlike the REGO (Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin) certification system, which operates annually, this new service provides a granular, half-hourly view of carbon emissions. Businesses can use this data to optimize their energy consumption patterns and reduce their carbon footprint. 

Customers can now see how their energy usage aligns with renewable generation, with the assurance that it is matched to 100% renewable sources annually. Larger business customers gain insights into their hourly matching through the platform. 

Combatting greenwash

Tom Parsons, sales and origination director Good Energy, said: “Our business customers were already getting the greenest supply product on the market, as their electricity usage is 100% backed off with power purchased direct from our renewable generators.  

“Now we’re taking this a step further by providing their hourly data matched with the output of those generators, giving them a much truer picture of their carbon impact and allowing them to focus their investment decisions on activity that will genuinely reduce their carbon footprint.   

“Good Energy has long been critical of the REGO system, which allows suppliers buying brown power to trade certificates in an annual window in order to claim they offer ‘100% renewable electricity’. Everyone from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero to the UK Green Buildings Council has recognised this isn’t satisfactory, but system reform doesn’t seem to be forthcoming. So working with Granular Energy, Good Energy is taking the initiative to move things forward and start combatting greenwash.”   

Toby Ferenczi, CEO and co-founder, Granular Energy, said: “Time-based energy matching is the obvious next step in how we source renewable power, with the potential to revolutionise how businesses approach their carbon accounting.  

“As more renewable output is sourced in this way, we should start to see not only businesses incentivised to shift their demand to times of oversupply, but developers incentivised to build the tech we need to fully decarbonise our energy systems.”