Lowering bills, cutting carbon

Renewable Energy Certificates

Investing in Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) is a powerful step towards achieving your sustainability goals. EACs allow you to match electricity consumption anywhere in your supply chain with renewable sources, reducing your emissions and providing evidence of your commitment to a net zero future.

Contact us about EACs

Why invest in EACs?

Your organisation is stuck on a non-renewable tariff

Whether you’re tied into a contract or struggling to engage a landlord, we can match your electricity usage with green power – just as an energy supplier would.

You want to reduce your Scope 3 emissions

Reduce the indirect emissions associated with employees working from home or the power used by your products once they’re in the hands of your customers.

Why us?

Big Clean Switch empowers businesses to invest in Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) for a greener future. Since 2016, our dedicated team has been supporting businesses in transitioning to renewable energy sources while ensuring affordability.

We provide clear and concise guidance, helping you navigate the complexities of EACs, while safeguarding against any hidden costs. Our expertise lies in reviewing the market to identify the optimal EAC options that align with your sustainability goals, ensuring you make an informed decision that positively impacts the environment.

How it works

1

We conduct a thorough assessment of the power consumption you need to match with green power. This includes taking account of the residual energy mix in each territory (the proportion of the grid mix that is green once all of the green power that is already claimed through EACs is removed).

2

We source pricing for certificates from the appropriate regions and consumption levels, ensuring that the renewable electricity claimed by your business accurately reflects your consumption.

3

Once a price is agreed, we retire the certificates on your behalf, making sure the same units of green power can’t be claimed by anyone else. We’ll then share the certificate numbers with you, so you have an audit trail for your purchase.

Carbon reporting

The adoption of renewable energy certificates is recognised by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s ‘market-based methodology’ as a means to reducing scope 2 emissions*, (as opposed to buying offsets). That’s because buying EACS increases demand for green electricity, making it more attractive to invest in new generation and storage infrastructure, and accelerating the decarbonisation of the grid. To learn more about this approach and access the scope 2 guidance, click here.

* The use of EACs isn’t yet written into the scope 3 guidance, but the underlying principles are the same, and it is already recognised in other standards such as the Carbon Neutral standard.

Want to learn more?

View our recent (free) webinar with our founder, Jon Fletcher, explaining what EACs are, and how they could help save the planet.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the ‘residual mix’ of the grid?

The residual mix of the energy grid refers to the combination of energy sources that remain after accounting for specific energy generation methods, such as renewable energy sources, that are directly tracked and accounted for. We take this into account when calculating your EAC requirement.

What costs are involved?

The costs of each certificate depend on several factors, including region, quantity and demand. We charge a management fee to cover our time in sourcing these certificates for you, and pass on the certificate prices to you at cost. Where we use intermediaries to source certificates (more common for certificates outside the UK) their fees may also be included in the certificate costs.