Tariffs and grants / Supplier landscape / Ecotricity supplier profile

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Ecotricity supplier profile

Green Stroud-based supplier: its renewable fuel mix, the price-cap-exempt Green Variable tariff, the EV tariff, the 16p Smart Export Tariff and its service record.

Company status, customer and market figures, and tariff terms in this profile were checked on 22 July 2026. Historical figures retain the date stated with them.

Ecotricity is a green energy supplier based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, that sells 100% renewable electricity and reinvests its profits into building new generation rather than paying them out as dividends, a model it calls “bills into mills”. It supplies around 167,000 meter points, domestic and business combined, which makes it a small supplier next to the Big Six. The points relevant to a household with solar panels, a home battery or an EV are its Smart Export Tariff for solar and battery export, its overnight EV tariff and its standard tariff sitting outside the Ofgem (Office of Gas and Electricity Markets) price cap.

Founded in 1995 and owned by the Green Britain Group

Ecotricity was set up in 1995 by Dale Vince, first as the Renewable Energy Company, and it delivered its first green electricity on 1 April 1996. Its first 60-metre turbine started generating in December 1996 at Lynch Knoll in Gloucestershire, the largest in the country at the time. It describes itself as the first green electricity supplier in the UK. The electricity became 100% renewable in 2013, having been a mix before that.

A 2020 restructure put a holding company, Green Britain Group Limited, at the top of the group. Alongside Ecotricity the group owns Forest Green Rovers, a football club it promotes as the world’s greenest, and a set of side ventures: Ecotalk, a mobile network; Britwind, which makes small wind turbines; Carbon Bank, which runs carbon-removal projects; and, since October 2024, a controlling stake in the regional airline Ecojet. Dale Vince remains in control of the company, with Asif Rehmanwala appointed chief executive of Ecotricity and the Green Britain Group in May 2023. Ecotricity donated £1 million to the Labour Party in December 2023.

The “bills into mills” model means profits go back into new wind, solar and green-gas generation instead of shareholder dividends. That is not the same as being a not-for-profit or a charity: Ecotricity is a limited company that chooses to reinvest. As of 2025 it ran an 87.2 MW wind portfolio. The wider Green Britain Group says it powers over 200,000 homes and businesses, a figure that spans the whole group rather than the energy supply on its own.

100% renewable electricity and roughly 1% green gas

Ecotricity’s electricity fuel mix is 100% renewable, from offshore wind, onshore wind, solar and hydro, with no coal, gas or nuclear. It reports 0 grams of carbon dioxide per kWh at the point of generation. For comparison it puts the UK average at 5.9% coal, 33.3% gas, 16.2% nuclear and 42.1% renewables, at 154 grams of CO2 per kWh.

The gas supply is mostly not green. About 1% is biomethane made from grass cuttings through anaerobic digestion, and the rest is ordinary fossil natural gas. Ecotricity says it offsets the fossil part through carbon-removal projects run by its Carbon Bank, including enhanced rock weathering verified by Isometric, and it makes a “frack-free promise” that its gas never comes from fracking. A higher green-gas figure of around 14% shows up on some listings, which appears to fold in that carbon-removal investment rather than the biomethane actually in the pipe; Ecotricity’s own more conservative figure for biomethane content is about 1%. It is building green gasmills that produce biomethane from grass, the first at Reading in Berkshire, which it says will supply around 3,500 homes.

Vegan energy and why the certification is hard to verify

Ecotricity markets its energy as vegan, meaning no animals or animal byproducts are used to generate it, and its biogas comes from grass rather than animal waste. It claims to be the only energy company in the world certified as vegan by both the Vegan Society and Viva!. That certification is hard to confirm. The Vegan Society’s Vegan Trademark applies to physical consumer products rather than services such as energy supply, so an energy tariff does not appear on its register, and Viva! does not list energy companies either. The vegan label is best read as Ecotricity’s own claim about how its energy is generated, not a certification you can look up.

Ecotricity also publishes a table comparing the animal-derived content of other suppliers’ fuel mixes. That comparison rests on the biomass generation those suppliers count towards their mix, and the actual share of animal-derived energy in the grid is small, so the contrast is narrower in practice than the table implies.

Import tariffs and the price-cap exemption

Ecotricity sells four home tariffs. Green Variable is its standard variable tariff, and unlike almost every other supplier’s default it is permanently exempt, or “derogated”, from the Ofgem price cap. Ofgem granted that exemption because Ecotricity generates and supplies renewable energy beyond what the rules require, and because customers have to actively choose the tariff rather than being placed on it by default. The practical effect is that Green Variable can and does cost more than the capped unit rate, so the price is a premium for verified green supply rather than a regulated figure.

The 1 Year Fixed tariff, branded EcoFixed, holds the price for twelve months and carries a £75 exit fee per fuel if you leave early. It needs a smart meter, paperless billing, payment by direct debit and consent to half-hourly meter readings.

The 1 Year Fixed EV tariff adds a cheaper overnight band for drivers. It is open to new customers in July 2026 and Ecotricity publishes current EcoFixed and EcoLoyalty EV principal terms. The product page describes a midnight-to-5am GMT window, moving to 1am-to-6am in summer, while the tariff issue supplied with a quote controls if its hours differ. It needs an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle, a communicating smart meter, half-hourly data consent, paperless account management and Direct Debit. Current fixed contracts use contract-specific exit fees, commonly £75 per fuel, rather than the £100 figure attached to older EV tariff issues.

The fourth tariff is Pay As You Go, a prepayment option. Green Variable and Pay As You Go carry no exit fees; only the fixed tariffs do. Ecotricity does not run a dedicated heat pump tariff, unlike some suppliers that offer a specific rate for electric heating.

Smart meters run through Ecotricity’s metering partner, Calisen. The EV and export products require a communicating smart meter. If a customer stops meeting an EV tariff’s eligibility conditions, the principal terms allow Ecotricity to move the account to its Out of Contract tariff and an early-exit fee may apply.

The Smart Export Tariff for solar and battery owners

The Smart Export Tariff pays 16p per kWh for electricity exported to the grid, and it is open only to households that also buy their import electricity from Ecotricity. It is a variable rate with no end date and no exit fees, and there is no standing charge on the export account. That 16p is one of the highest flat-rate export rates available. Sunsave estimates a typical solar-and-battery household could earn around £865 a year from it, though the figure depends on how much you export.

To qualify, a system needs a first or second generation smart meter (SMETS1 or SMETS2), consent to share half-hourly data, an MCS or Flexi-Orb certificate, a grid connection agreed with your DNO under the G98 or G99 connection rules and proof that you own the equipment. Generation capacity is capped at 5 MW. Payments are made quarterly, within ten working days of the invoice. The Smart Export Tariff cannot be combined with Feed-in Tariff export payments unless your Feed-in Tariff licensee opts you out of the export element first.

Microtricity for legacy Feed-in Tariff holders

Microtricity is Ecotricity’s Feed-in Tariff administration service for households that already receive the Feed-in Tariff. Ecotricity is a voluntary Feed-in Tariff licensee, and Microtricity handles the generation and export payments due under the closed scheme. It is separate from the Smart Export Tariff: Microtricity is for existing Feed-in Tariff recipients, while the Smart Export Tariff is the route for exporting solar or battery power today.

The Electric Highway and its handover to GRIDSERVE

Ecotricity launched the Electric Highway in 2011, one of Britain’s first nationwide EV charging networks, built around chargers at motorway service areas. In March 2021 GRIDSERVE took a 25% stake in the network, with funding from Hitachi Capital to upgrade the chargers to 350 kW, and by June 2021 GRIDSERVE had bought it outright. Ecotricity kept a supply partnership to provide renewable power to the network.

The network was widely criticised during its Ecotricity years for poor reliability, with drivers reporting broken chargers and little maintenance at key motorway sites. The charging network has been GRIDSERVE’s since 2021, so it is no longer part of what an Ecotricity energy customer signs up to.

Trustpilot score, Which? ranking and call-wait times

Ecotricity holds a Trustpilot rating of 4.2 out of 5 from more than 6,000 reviews. In the annual Which? survey it scored 75% and ranked seventh, marked up for accurate, clear bills and down on digital tools and value for money, and it has been named a Which? Eco Provider for five years running. Reviews of its service are mixed in practice: some customers report quick, helpful support, while others describe long waits, billing problems and slow smart-meter installation. Average call waiting time has been measured at around fourteen minutes. The mobile app is rated 2.1 out of 5 on the Apple App Store and 4.6 out of 5 on Google Play.

General enquiries go to 0345 555 7100, and export and Smart Export Tariff questions to export@ecotricity.co.uk.

Applies to

Solar, Battery, EV charging, Heat

Last reviewed

22 Jul 2026