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Energy
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time
Immediate
When it comes to buying clean energy, everyone has the option to buy renewable energy certificates (RECs). Some customers might have the option to purchase renewable electricity directly from their power supplier for a small premium. Typically what this means is your power supplier will purchase RECs or add a bit more renewable energy to its power generation mix.
Buying clean energy, whether from one of our recommended services or directly from your power supplier is a great way to support the renewable energy market and quickly and affordably claim 100% renewables in our calculator.
Our top recommendations for renewable energy suppliers in the US
Arcadia
$5 per month, plus your regular energy bill
Arcadia provides a simple way to help increase the demand for renewable energy. You can join Arcadia as a homeowner or renter, as long as you have access to your energy bill. You won't even need to switch electricity providers — you can keep using electricity delivered by your current utility and even pay your bill through Arcadia.
As an Arcadia Power member, you pay a small fee to have your energy consumption matched with clean energy — so for every kWh of energy you use, they'll make sure a kWh of renewables is produced. In some areas, Arcadia will even be able to connect you to a community solar farm, which helps put more clean energy in your community instead of only matching your energy use with RECs.
Arcadia has a 4.9 rating on TrustPilot and have over 250,000 members across the United States.
Switch to renewables with Arcadia
Octopus Energy U.S.
If you live in Texas, Octopus Energy might be a great option for you. Unlike Arcadia, Octopus Energy provides you with all your energy directly — you'll be switching off your current utility. And for any energy they send you that isn't renewable, they'll make sure that an equivalent amount of renewables is produced. Octopus Energy serves over 2 million customers in the UK and just started operating in Texas a few years ago.
Green-e certified renewable energy credits
If Arcadia and Octopus Energy aren't available in your zipcode, you can find and buy Green-e certified renewable energy credits (more on RECs in the next section) to compensate for your electricity usage yourself. This might cost a bit more than using Arcadia depending on how expensive the RECs that you're purchasing are.
Find Green-e certified RECs near you
Our recommendations in the UK
Octopus Energy UK
Octopus Energy is an excellent energy supplier that is affordable and has great customer service. They serve over 3 million business and residential customers in the U.K. It has a fixed-rate tariff and a simple pricing model. However, Octopus Energy only provides electricity and no gas options.
Switch to renewable energy with Octopus
Ecotricity
While Ecotricity is a smaller provider than Octopus, they're quite progressive for a utility: they're very vocal about ending reliance on fossil fuels and are even certified as vegan energy, meaning you won't get any energy generated from animal waste to your home.
How Renewable Energy Certificates compensate for your fossil fuel usage
When you join a renewable energy supplier, you're still staying on the same energy grid. That means it's not guaranteed you'll get 100% renewable-only energy to your home (**). But for every kWh of energy you use, those suppliers will make sure an equivalent amount of kWh of renewables is produced elsewhere on your behalf by sourcing, purchasing, and retiring Renewable Energy Certificates.
Renewable energy certificates (RECs) are like carbon credits for clean energy. They are a way for people and businesses to subsidize renewable energy generation by choosing to pay extra for their electricity.
When a renewable energy supplier, like a wind or solar farm, produces one megawatt-hour (1MWh) of electricity, a REC is created. That REC can be purchased by anyone who uses 1MWh of electricity, regardless of its source. RECs, like carbon credits, can only be sold and claimed once, so no double counting occurs.
So by purchasing & retiring the REC, you're now effectively using renewable energy. You're also increasing the amount of clean power your local utility company has access to, and increasing the long-term demand for renewable energy sources.
(**) That’s very difficult to do, as all sources of energy — whether fossil fuel or clean power — get pushed to the same power grid and are mixed together before getting sent to you via power lines.