Cutting through greenwash is difficult.
Thankfully, Greenpeace’s 2022 Green Electricity Guide makes it easy to dodge the marketing bluster – like carbon neutral plans – so you can choose a better electricity provider.
First released in 2018, the Green Electricity Guide is Australia’s only independent, unbiased ranking of electricity retailers.
For this edition, 48 electricity retailers were assessed based on criteria such as providing renewable energy, ending coal use by 2030, halting fossil fuel expansion, and transparency of marketing and environmental harm.
Top-ranking providers in NSW
If you’re already buying from these companies, good on you.
If you’re not, but would like to, you can usually switch in as little as 5 minutes.
- Diamond Energy
- Momentum Energy
- Energy Locals
- Indigo Power
- CoPower
- Nectr Energy
- Amber Electric
- Powershop
- Mojo Power
- Red Energy
Wooden-spooners
You may be unsurprised to learn the big 3 rank in the bottom 5 companies. Origin came in at 44th, Energy Australia came 45th, and AGL came dead last in 48th position.
What if you’ve never heard of a company
Many new electricity retailers are popping up on the horizon.
It can sometimes feel uncomfortable to sign up with companies you’ve never heard of.
Good news. No matter what company you choose, you can rest assured you’ll never run out of power mid-souffle bake.
If a company ceases to trade, for whatever reason, your account will simply default to another provider.
How to get a good deal
Buying GreenPower doesn’t mean you’ll pay more.
If you’ve been with the same provider for a long time, you can often switch to GreenPower and pay less than you do now.
Shop around using Energy Made Easy and cross reference the results with the Green Electricity Guide top 10 providers.
By law, energy companies must provide accurate information about their plans for the Energy Made Easy website.
Make sure you tick the GreenPower box.
Tell us when you switch
To help reduce the devastating effects of climate change, we’re on a quest to help make all buildings in our local area net zero by 2035.
We’ve been buying 100% renewable for all our operations – 115 buildings, 75 parks, 5 pools and 23,000 streetlights – since July 2020.
When you switch to a GreenPower plan with one of the top ranked electricity providers, or if you have any questions, email us at renewableenergy@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43C087gfu6s
Top image and video courtesy of Greenpeace.
Published 16 February 2022, updated 9 August 2022
