we want a wind farm

This morning’s post brought the scarcely unexpected news that Powergen, who supply my gas, was about to raise its prices massively. I read the small print and from 1st September the cost per kilowatt/hour will rise from 2.159p to 2.537p, an increase of 17.5%! A quick bit of shopping around on the internet unearthed EBICO, a not-for-profit company. Their charge will be a flat rate of 1.94p per Kw/h, so Powergen’s charge is more than 30% greater than EBICO’s. British Gas are even more expensive than Powergen (source: UK Power). EBICO was set up by a group of Christians in Oxford with the objective of ensuring that everyone, not just those who are able to pay by Direct Debit, should benefit from the lowest possible energy prices. This is particularly aimed at helping those who pay over the odds because they are forced into using coin-slot meters. It is possible to get both gas and electricity from EBICO, but in my case I am just interested in the gas. EBICO make no particular claims about being “green” (although their electricity comes from Scottish and Southern, who have a fair few hydro-electric plants) but they are interested in social justice. Enviromentalism and social justice go hand-in-hand, hence the entry here. So from my point of view it’s bye-bye, Powergen!