Member Article

Growing interest in renewable electricity from SMEs

Research from Cornwall Insight’s ‘TPI satisfaction survey’* found a growing interest in renewable electricity amongst businesses and Third-Party Intermediaries (TPIs). The ‘TPI satisfaction survey’ details TPIs’ views on the services they receive from energy suppliers. The 2020 edition asks which suppliers “meet TPI needs” best and how much they value renewable energy.

Molly Lloyd, Senior Analyst at Cornwall Insight, said:

“Despite the challenging year for businesses, we recorded a growing interest in renewable electricity across all the sectors surveyed. This has been a focus for industrial and commercial (I&Cs) businesses over the last two years, driven by corporate social responsibility goals, particularly for those businesses with consumer-facing brands. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the interest is now trickling down to smaller companies.

“Data from Cornwall Insight’s survey shows that Renewable Electricity Guarantee of Origins (REGOs) or renewable propositions increased in the order of importance for TPIs for services beyond energy procurement. It ranked second (with a score of 6.1) behind account management, up from fourth in 2019 (5.3) and sixth in 2018 (4.3), suggesting a greater interest from their business customers.

“The drive for renewable electricity is influenced by larger corporates aiming to reduce their Scope 3 emissions. Scope 3 emissions include those indirect emissions (not included in Scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including upstream and downstream emissions. This means that smaller businesses that are part of corporates supply chains will also now need to reduce their emissions or risk losing custom.

“Changes in the supplier offering have also influenced the increase, where renewable electricity has been offered as standard, alongside government-imposed targets and business’ client bases making more sustainable choices.”

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*The TPI satisfaction survey was carried out in December 2020 with over 60 responses.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Cornwall Insight .