www.greenelectricitywatch.org.au

Only electricity from approved generators can be sold as GreenPower, but in recent years a number of much cheaper, non-accredited products – with misleading ‘green’ product names – have appeared.

As a result, companies offering genuine accredited products can lose market share to companies with non- accredited products, which are unlikely to make a difference to Australia’s greenhouse emissions.

For example, purchasing investment in ‘mature’ renewables such as hydroelectricity does not contribute to the growth of renewables such as wind and solar, which need to be ramped up quickly to meet mandatory targets.

For some non-accredited products, the same electricity being offered to consumers as ‘green’ is ‘double counted’ in that it is also contributing to mandatory renewable energy targets.

The Green Electricity Watch site enables consumers to make a more informed choice about their power by star-rating energy products according to their contribution to renewable energy growth in Australia, the clarity of consumer product information, the retailer’s rate of uptake of GreenPower and the proportion of accredited

GreenPower in the product. You can check out the star-ratings of products by state (just click on a map) or by supplier. You may be surprised by what you find!

The product rating system and site is a joint effort of the Total Environment Centre, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the WWF.

Additionally, the site contains succinct tips on making energy savings around the home (lights, heating and cooling, fridge, washing machine, etc).

The site has a link to the government GreenPower accreditation scheme website, which provides further information about the GreenPower ‘tick’ label.