Ecotricity’s ‘Boycott the Big Six’ calls for bill payers to fight fracking with their energy bills
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Ecotricity – Britain’s greenest energy company, has kicked off a new campaign to highlight that despite mass rejection of fracking, the controversial method of extracting gas from the ground – 50% of Brits are paying to support it through their energy bills.
The majority of Brits are unwittingly supporting fracking by getting their energy supplied by one of four ‘Big Six’ companies – British Gas, EDF, EON and Scottish Power. The final two, NPower and SSE are complicit by not coming out against fracking.
While almost half of us are funding fracking, support among Brits for the process is at a record low, with just 16% behind it – according to recent government data (Business & Energy Department 2017).
With exploratory drilling now underway at potential sites in Derbyshire and Northumberland – Boycott the Big Six aims to highlight the country’s unwitting support. The campaign will educate people on where their energy comes from, and the need to stand up to fracking, even if it isn’t on their doorstep.
Ecotricity’s new People:Power fund will support grassroots anti-fracking campaigns and community groups who need financial support to battle fracking. The more people who join Ecotricity as part of the Boycott the Big Six campaign, the more funding will be made available.
Ecotricity is funding the hire of a sophisticated gas detection camera to scan for dangerous gases when fracking begins. The company has been actively supporting anti-fracking groups since 2012 funding legal cases and donating equipment.
Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity, said:
“One of the most effective protests of my time was the South African boycott – it ended apartheid because people chose not to support the regime with their food bills. We’re calling for the same approach to our energy bills – the vast majority of us don’t want fracking, in that case, we need to stop unwittingly supporting it with our bills.
"We have an alternative to fracking – making gas from grass – it’s renewable, carbon neutral and would be a huge new industry for the country, improving our energy independence while keeping fossil fuels in the ground where they belong.”
Ecotricity commissioned a report last year, which found that green gas made from grass could power 97% of Britain’s homes with virtually carbon neutral gas, employ 75,000 people and inject £7.5bn into the rural economy every year. The full report is available here.
Click here for more information about the ‘Boycott the Big Six’ campaign and visit our switch page here to join Ecotricity, and stop your energy bills funding fracking.
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