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Ecotricity launched as the world’s first green energy company in 1995 with just a single wind turbine. It now supplies green gas and electricity to more than 200,000 homes in the UK. Read on to find out more about this green company.

About Ecotricity

Dale Vince founded Ecotricity in 1995 with a single windmill. His original business model used the local electricity grid to match local consumers with local generation sources. Today, Ecotricity supplies over 200,000 customers and invests more per customer in building new green energy sources than any other energy company in Great Britain. It has expanded its portfolio to more than just wind power — it now sources energy from the sun and sea as well.

The timeline below highlights extraordinary moments that have come to define who Ecotricity is today.

  • 1996 - Green electricity is delivered by Ecotricity to its first customer, the Cheltenham and Gloucester College, from landfill gas.
  • 2002 - Over 1,000 Ecotricity customers receive electricity from wind energy.
  • 2007 - Ecotricity is awarded the World’s Leading Green Energy Prize at the Ashden Awards, presented by Al Gore.
  • 2010 - Ecotricity launches its first 100% Green Gas tariff. It also launches its ecobonds, which are used to fund green energy projects and share the financial benefits with its customers.
  • 2011 - The supplier launches its Electric Highway, the UK’s first motorway network of charging points for electric vehicles. It also launches Britain’s first solar park.
  • 2012 - Ecotricity’s electric supercar, the Nemesis, breaks the British land speed record for an electric vehicle, having reached an impressive 151 mph.
  • 2017 - Ecotricity is awarded the “World's Best Green Energy Brand” at the global Energy Branding Conference.
  • 2019 - Ecotricity becomes the first energy company to declare a climate emergency. It also announces that it agrees with Extinction Rebellion (XR) in aiming to make Britain carbon neutral by 2025.
  • 2021 - Ecotricity partners with Geothermal Engineering Limited to produce and sell geothermal electricity in the UK for the first time. The new power plant will produce enough electricity to power 10,000 homes per year.

Ecotricity Tariffs: What are Ecotricity prices?

electricity tariff and money

Ecotricity keeps it pretty simple with its tariff options. All tariffs provide 100% green electricity and carbon-neutral gas.

Ecotricity's gas tariffs also come with a frack-free promise. This means that they promise not to use shale gas nor contribute in any way to hydraulic fracking.

All Ecotricity tariffs also include vegan energy. This means that the supply of electricity or gas you receive to your home does not involve the use of animals nor animal by-products. You’ll rarely see vegan energy supplied by Ecotricity’s competitors because energy suppliers are under no obligation to declare whether or not animals are used in the production of energy.

None of the Ecotricity tariffs include exit fees, meaning you’re not tied in to any long term contract with Ecotricity. This is much the opposite with the majority of energy suppliers in the UK. This gives you the freedom to keep an eye on the deals offered by its competitors and switch to another one without worrying about being penalised. Whether you’ve stayed with Ecotricity for one week or one month, you won’t pay an early exit fee for switching to another competitor.

In the sections below, we break down the prices for each of the following tariff types:

  • Ecotricity tariffs for customers with credit meters
  • Ecotricity tariffs for customers with pay-as-you-go meters
  • Ecotricity tariffs for EV drivers
  • Ecotricity tariffs for business customers
  • Ecotricity feed-in tariff

Ecotricity tariffs for customers with credit meters

Customers with credit meters can register for either a dual fuel tariff (gas and electricity) or a single fuel tariff (gas or electricity). If you register for both an electricity and gas tariff, you get a £15 annual discount.

The electricity tariff is called the Green Electricity tariff.

Like Ecotricity's electricity tariff, the gas tariff is called the Green Gas tariff.

If you are to register for both gas and electricity, the estimated annual spend for a household in London would be £1,500 including the £15 annual dual-fuel discount.

Ecotricity tariffs for customers with pay-as-you-go meters

A prepayment meter is a type of energy meter that you can have installed on your property. This is different from the standard credit meter with which payments for energy consumption are made by direct debit. Instead, you’ll be on a 'pay as you go' (PAYG) tariff. This means that you pay for your energy before you use it.

You can top up your meter with either a key or a card at your local corner shop. Customers with smart meters can also top up their meters via the Ecotricity app.

For prepayment customers with a dual fuel tariff, the estimated annual spend would be £1,104. Prepayment customers do not get a £15 annual duel-fuel discount. However, the annual spend is still almost £400 cheaper than the dual-fuel tariff. Ecotricity is one of the few suppliers that charges less for prepayment than it does for paying via direct debit.

Ecotricity Tariff for EV Drivers

If you have an electric vehicle or hybrid, you can sign up for the Ecotricity Green Electricity + EV tariff. This tariff is only available for customers with credit meters.

This Ecotricity tariff offers cheaper electricity unit rates compared to those in the Green Electricity tariff. The standing charge, however, is just slightly more expensive per day. If you register for gas, those rates are the same as the standard Green Gas tariff for credit meters. You will also receive the £15 annual duel-fuel discount.

This Ecotricity tariff is compatible with all-electric vehicles and hybrids. These include BMW i3, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Renault Zoe, Hyundai Ioniq and Nissan LEAF.

If you don't have an EV charging point at your home and you would like to have one installed, you can get one with this tariff. With it, you will get a £40 discount on a Rolec Wallpod EV home charging point, including the full installation.

It’s designed to offer full Mode 3 fast charging to your vehicle. The Rolec Wallpod EV home charging point is available in either J1772 or IEC 62196 tethered cable or IEC 62196 socket versions. It’s approved by OLEV (Office for Low Emission Vehicles) which gives it an official government seal of approval as to its quality and performance.

Ecotricity Business Energy Tariffs

Entrepreneurs can also go green when they choose to have their business premises supplied by Ecotricity. Business customers can choose their green tariff for small and medium-sized businesses, whilst Ecotricity also offers a bespoke tariff for large businesses. Find out here what category your company fits into.

Businesses benefit from getting their gas and electricity supply from Ecotricity in many ways.

  • Speed: Get a quick and accurate answer to all your questions from their expert team of business account managers.
  • Simplicity: No contract renewals. Just one simple tariff or fixed pricing.
  • Green Credibility: Customers can tell their customers about their 100% green energy supply, as well as the new projects that their bills are contributing to. By shouting about it on social media channels, Ecotricity’s business customers can gain green-credibility among their own environmentally-conscious clients.
  • Expertise in new meter connections: Get the latest smart meter technology for businesses. Includes free installation.

Ecotricity Feed-in Tariff

The Ecotricity Feed-in tariff (FiT) is no longer available. This government scheme rewarded consumers that generated renewable energy back into the National Grid. Ecotricity called its version of this scheme “Microtricity”. It quit accepting applications in April 2019.

The FiT scheme was replaced by the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) in January 2020. However, Ecotricity opted not to become an SEG Licensee. Suppliers with less than 150,000 don't have to be. Instead, the supplier now offers its own version of the SEG. Ecotricity says this allows it to be more flexible with its offers. You can call Ecotricity or send an email to [email protected] for more details.

Ecotricity Reviews: What do customers say?

speech bubbles

Ecotricity is certainly the strongest player in the “green energy” market. It’s not just one of the oldest, but the most recognised one among its green competitors. Does this translate into good reviews left by its customers?

On customer review site Trustpilot, Ecotricity has rather mixed reviews. Of the more than 2,000 customers that left reviews, 52% rated the supplier as "excellent" while 33% gave Ecotricity a "bad" rating. What’s the basis of the discrepancy? What have customers on other review website being saying about Ecotricity? Get the full rundown on our Ecotricity reviews page.

Ecotricity Login: Access your online account

With your Ecotricity online account, you can manage your energy account 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We break down how to log in to your Ecotricity account below in four simple steps.

  1. Go to the Ecotricity homepage and click the button in the top right corner that says "Log in". You will be redirected to the Ecotricity login page.
  2. Enter the email address associated with your account in the box that says "Email".
  3. Enter your password in the box that says "Password".
  4. Click the green button that says "Log in". Now you're in!

Once you're logged in to your Ecotricity account, you'll be able to submit meter readings and pay your bills all online!

How do I register for an Ecotricity login?

Just because you're an Ecotricity customer doesn't mean that you automatically have an online account. You will need to register for an account if you have not done so before.

To register, go to the Ecotricity login page. Under where it asks "Don't have an online account?" click "Create yours now". You will need to enter the following details in order to create an online account:

  • Your energy account number — This eight or nine-digit number can be found on your Ecotricity bill.
  • Your postcode — Make sure to give the postcode linked to your Ecotricity account.

Ecotricity EV Charging

car

Electric vehicles are one of the best ways to reduce climate change. Ecotricity advocates the use of EVs by allowing customers to power them with its 100% green electricity. This has led to it creating the Electric Highway, a collection of 300 EV charge points located at motorway service stations across the UK.

If you want to know where an Ecotricity charge point is located, head to Zap-Map. The online tool helps you find the nearest charge point and provides directions for how to get there.

Once you've arrived at an Ecotricity EV charging station, charging your car is easy. Simply follow the steps below:

  1. Download Zap-Map app here.
  2. Check the status of their electricity pumps using the app.
  3. Begin your charge session.

Ecotricity EV Charging Discount

Ecotricity customers on the EV tariff can also receive cheaper rates on the Electric Highway. You may be able to obtain the discount by following these steps:

  1. Download Ecotricity’s Electric Highway mobile phone app, available from iTunes or Google Play.
  2. Sign in with your Eco ID on your Ecotricity energy account details
  3. Create a new Eco ID if you don't have an energy account. Alternatively, you can use it as a guest user without having to sign in. You just insert your credit card details each time you want to charge your vehicle.
  4. It takes a maximum of 45 minutes per session to charge your vehicle.

Ecotricity Smart Meters

With an Ecotricity smart meter, you'll never need to worry about submitting meter readings again. The smart meter will automatically send your consumption to the supplier. You'll also be able to see your energy usage in near real-time. This can help you to better manage your consumption habits and cut back on your energy costs.

Ecotricity installs both the first generation (SMETS1) and second generation (SMETS2) of smart meters. We recommend requesting a SMETS2 Ecotricity smart meter, as the first generation is not compatible with all other suppliers. This means that your Ecotricity smart meter may lose its 'smart' functionality if you decide to switch energy suppliers. If this happens, you'll need to go back to submitting your meter readings manually each month to ensure accurate billing.

Ecotricity is installing smart meters in stages to its customer base. The supplier's meter operator, Magnum, will contact Ecotricity customers when installations are about to start in their area.

Ecotricity smart meter top up for PAYG

Are you a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) customer? Ecotricity gives you the option of upgrading your standard PAYG meter to a Smart PAYG meter. With this type of meter, you get to manage your energy and credit in a much easier way. Benefits of Ecotricity’s Smart PAYG meter include the following:

  • With this device, you can monitor how much gas and electricity you're using in real-time. You can also see how much it’s costing you in pounds and pence.
  • Even if you’re out of the house, in the supermarket or just out and about, you can top up gas and electric credit online remotely at any time. You won’t even have to touch your prepayment meter to have it topped up.
  • If you’re worried that your credit might run out overnight or during the weekend, Ecotricity offers friendly credit periods to its PAYG customers. That means they keep your supply on if it runs out at any of these inconvenient times.
  • Even during the week when you’ll be outside of Ecotricity’s friendly credit period, you can still activate emergency credit directly from your Smart Energy Tracker. It’ll be topped up within 20 minutes.

Ecotricity Contact

Need to contact Ecotricity? You can find the main contact details in the table below. For more Ecotricity contact information, such as how to get in touch with a specific department, visit our Ecotricity contact guide.

Ecotricity Contact Numbers
Department Contact number
Customer services 0145 375 6111
24/7 Gas emergency assistance 0345 555 7 100
24/7 Power cut assistance 105

Ecotricity Fuel Mix

wind turbine

What makes Ecotricity stand out from the crowd is its generation and supply of 100% green electricity and carbon neutral gas. These figures matter, as Ofgem is clamping down on other so-called “green suppliers” who are misleading customers about the purity of their sources.

Green energy comes from natural sources, such as wind, rain, sunlight, geothermal heat tides and plants. These resources are naturally replenished, which means they’re renewable. This is in sharp contrast to fossil fuels, such as coal or gas, which are finite resources that take millions of years to develop.

Ecotricity’s mission is to make Britain greener. The benefits of green energy in the developing world are also evident, as it avoids an overdependence on our limited fossil fuels. This means fewer greenhouse gas emissions that pollute the planet. It also creates Ecotricity jobs in manufacturing, installation, and more sectors linked to the green energy market.

Not all so-called “green tariffs” are actually green. According to recent reports, most providers of green tariffs derive little or no energy directly from renewable sources. They simply say they do, which allows them to charge a lot more money for it, through a complicated legal loophole! This is known as "greenwashing". The practice consists of buying the right to label tariffs as 'green' through a complex certificate system.

To curtail the abuse of green labels by suppliers, Ofgem published its 27-page Green Supply Guidelines which green suppliers must adhere to. In response, Ecotricity prepared its own short and simple pdf document. It aims to help consumers quickly identify and confirm if a tariff is truly ‘green’.

Ecotricity clearly fits the guidelines, as 100% of its energy is generated by wind, water or the sun. This is why it is touted as the greenest energy company in Britain.

Ecotricity & Vegan Electricity

Ecotricity is the only energy supplier generating its own vegan electricity, as recognised by The Vegan Society. This means that the electricity it generates doesn’t involve the use of animals or animal by-products. More specifically, its energy sources are not from anaerobic digestion (AD) nor biomass. As such, Ecotricity’s sources do not contain by-products of animal farming, such as slaughterhouse waste or animal slurry.

Customers of vegan electricity get to cut their carbon footprint while supporting ethical energy production. They also get peace of mind knowing that the money they pay in energy bills does not support factory farming or the unethical treatment of animals.

Ecotricity publishes an Environmental Report every year to track the impact of its work and its own efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. This means that the public can track the company’s carbon emissions when supplying green energy to its customers.

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