Green energy hoax

William Oxenham (Letters, March 23) puts his finger on yet another scam from renewable electricity suppliers. Some years ago they were chastised by the Advertising Standards Authority for claiming "green tariff" customers received electricity from a particular source such as windpower, so they thought-up the trick of claiming that as much wind power was fed in one end as customers used at the other.

If this was a greengrocery scam, the customer would understand. Ninety-five per cent of customers want King Edwards potatoes and 5 per cent want Romano, so mix them up 19 to one and sell the mixture to all customers. Tell the Romano fans that as many were put in the box as have been sold.

This is what happens with electricity. We all buy the same mixture and, as Ofgem has told us, we all even pay extra on our bill for the tiny percentage of wind power which went into the supply end of the cables. There are a great many more common tariff payers so they are "saving the planet". What extra contribution is being made by the relatively tiny number of green tariff subscribers?

If this was a greengrocery scam, the customer would understand. Ninety-five per cent of customers want King Edwards potatoes and 5 per cent want Romano, so mix them up 19 to one and sell the mixture to all customers. Tell the Romano fans that as many were put in the box as have been sold.

This is what happens with electricity. We all buy the same mixture and, as Ofgem has told us, we all even pay extra on our bill for the tiny percentage of wind power which went into the supply end of the cables. There are a great many more common tariff payers so they are "saving the planet". What extra contribution is being made by the relatively tiny number of green tariff subscribers?