Be careful when choosing the electricity provider: A test of eco-electricity offers shows that not every provider inevitably supports renewable energies.
Green electricity
contributes to the expansion of
renewable energies
and thus ensures an
environmentally friendly energy transition
.
The consumer
portal Öko-Test
examines several
eco-electricity providers
and comes to a negative result.
A large proportion of the
electricity providers
received the grade
“poor
”
in the test
.
Kassel - When it comes to electricity providers, more and more Germans are thinking about switching to green electricity, which will contribute to the expansion of
renewable energies
.
But as a
comparison of providers
shows, only a few electricity providers meet these requirements.
In the test it was revealed that in many
green
electricity offers there is
actually only a little green in them.
Together with the Saarbrücken
Institute for Future Energy and Material Flow Systems (IZES)
, the consumer
portal
Öko-Test * carried out a detailed analysis of offers on the
eco-electricity market
and an
eco-electricity comparison
and finally came to an astonishing result: a total of 70 Percent of the tariffs failed the test.
But what are actually
green electricity products
?
Various electricity providers in the test: What does "green electricity" mean?
In
many cases, green
electricity
is more expensive than the usual electricity offers, as the expansion of
renewable energies
is to be guaranteed
by means of a surcharge
- the term "green electricity" is not legally defined, however.
Green electricity products, or
electrical energy from environmentally friendly energy sources
, are sold to consumers by the providers in different tariff variants.
The
expansion of renewable energies is financed
with the so-called
EEG levy
, which is anchored in the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG).
This levy, which is equally high for companies and private households, is paid by the
end customer
to the electricity supplier in proportion to the respective electricity consumption.
This in turn forwards this to the network operator, who then pays the money to the system operator.
So you could say that
consumers
are financing the expansion of renewable energies.
Green electricity in Germany: Öko-Test evaluates various electricity providers
Nevertheless, the following applies in
Germany
: Only renewable electricity that has not been
remunerated
through the
EEG surcharge
may be sold under the name
“eco-electricity”
.
This is why the product that electricity customers can buy as green electricity is created outside of the funding provided by legislation and is therefore unlikely to make a sufficient contribution to the
energy
transition.
Are there any exceptions in this regard?
+
More and more people are considering switching to green electricity - but only a few providers keep what they promise.
The consumer portal Öko-Test has examined various offers.
(Symbol image)
© Patrick Pleul / dpa
Öko-Test was able to
answer this question clearly in the affirmative
for
ten providers
: They received the grade "very good" and, from the point of view of the consumer portal, make a clear
contribution to the energy transition
outside of the Renewable Energy Sources Act, because the respective homepages show how customers pay a lot of money every month, which in turn is
invested
in the expansion of
renewable energies
.
Does “green” electricity support the energy transition?
Öko-Test demands transparent communication
But there is also bad news from the
eco-electricity comparison
: Most of the products tested
do not perform well
, as they are a comprehensible and published article on the expansion of renewable energies
is missing.
However, providers are
still
allowed to
call
their
electricity
“eco-electricity”, as this is partly obtained from
environmentally friendly energy sources
such as hydroelectric power stations or wind turbines.
With these providers, however, customers continue to feel in the dark - transparent
communication is
therefore
urgently needed.
However, the test only covers just under six percent of the
green electricity products
on the market, as only those products could be tested that were available in the majority of the communities.
Consumers are therefore advised to obtain extensive and precise information about potential electricity providers, because not all green electricity also contributes to the
energy transition
.
(Alina Schröder)
* hna.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editorial network.
List of rubric lists: © Patrick Pleul / dpa
