Technically nothing, it’s just how you pay for it. GreenPower simply represents a payment for the environmental attribute of the electricity you use. Small users like households prefer to pay for this attribute “as you go”, i.e. at the same time as their electricity bill. Large users particularly those with multiple accounts and retailers prefer to purchase in blocks where they can coordinate their environmental reporting across the whole organisation and may be able to take advantage of movements in the wholesale prices. Further, commercial users on embedded networks are often unable to purchase GreenPower other than via a decoupled provider.

No. Not unless you are already on a GreenPower product with your retailer. You may wish to terminate the GreenPower component of that contract so as not to pay for more GreenPower than you actually use.

No. The purchase of GreenPower is simply a financial transaction where you make a payment towards the generation of renewable energy which replaces standard electricity you are taking out of the grid.

No. All power from the grid has the same electricity attribute. It’s just that some comes from fossil generators and some comes from renewables. When you purchase GreenPower you are paying the premium which renewables generators requires to be viable and this leads to a greater proportion of renewably sourced energy going into the grid.

The cost of building large scale renewable generators today is higher than can be recovered by standard wholesale electricity rates. The Clean Energy Regulator issues Large Scale Generation certificates (LGCs) to renewable generators for each MWh of power that they feed into the grid. The generator converts this to income by selling the LGCs GreenPower providers who pass that cost onto consumers through the sale of “GreenPower”.

Yes, ACXargyle has been part of the GreenPower Program since 2006. The GreenPower Program itself began in 1997 and has been around for longer than most international reporting standards. The GreenPower Program are constantly being updated to aligned with these reporting standards in terms of generator age and certificate vintage.

Our Invoice or Certificate of Purchase is recognised as proof of purchase under all major reporting standards. If your auditor has concerns, they can contact us, or the GreenPower Program Manager at the Department of Environment, Energy and Water (NSW) on 02 9995 5468 or email greenpower.admin@planning.nsw.gov.au