Where our energy comes from
Everyone's asking questions about where things come from these days - food, clothes, energy - it's increasingly important for us all. We're committed to sourcing the most renewable, ethical energy around and being totally transparent about where your gas and electricity come from.
GasWe buy all of our gas from the UK grid. In Britain, most of our gas still comes from the North Sea; the rest comes from Norway, Continental Europe and some from further afield. It mostly reaches us via undersea pipelines that connect to the Grid. Some gas in the European network comes from Russia, but it's less than 0.5% of the UK's supply.
North Sea gas production peaked in 2000, but it's been declining at a rate of about 2% a year ever since. In 2009, around 70% of the UK's gas will come from UK North Sea gas fields.
Increasingly, gas is imported as liquefied natural gas (LNG); natural gas cooled to about -165°C and compressed to make it easier to transport. In this form it can be shipped all over the world, just like oil. The biggest exporters of LNG are Qatar, Algeria, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Note: If you decide to make either of these tariffs 'dual fuel', Ovo Gas will be sourced from the UK grid
ElectricityWe buy our electricity from both renewable and non-renewable sources to suit your lifestyle and your budget. A lot of our electricity comes from the national grid.
We also purchase electricity directly from renewable generators including wind turbines. Renewable energy is defined under Ofgem's guidance as "renewable non-fossil energy sources" and includes wind, solar, geothermal, wave, tidal, hydropower, biomass, landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas and biogases.
Some of our energy comes from landfill gas electricity generators. Landfill gas generation converts the methane given off by waste disposal facilities into electricity. If it wasn't captured, the methane would escape into the atmosphere. This is especially important as methane's effect on global warming is more than 20 times greater than CO2's, making landfill gas generation a great idea. All of the electricity that we get from landfill sites is backed by REGOs (Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin) which are certificates awarded by Ofgem for each kWh of energy generated by a source that is deemed to be renewable.