EDF biggest UK user of nuclear: Scottish Power uses none

EDF is the biggest user of nuclear energy among UK utility providers, while Scottish Power uses none. But Scottish Power uses more coal to get its power than anyone else, […]

EDF is the biggest user of nuclear energy among UK utility providers, while Scottish Power uses none.

But Scottish Power uses more coal to get its power than anyone else, while, perhaps unsurprisingly, British Gas is the biggest user of gas.

The figures from electricityinfo.org were commissioned by WWF Scotland, which wanted to see a breakdown of how UK utility providers employed gas, coal, nuclear and renewables in their power mix.

EDF gets 64% of its power from nuclear, while E.ON gets 7.2%, British Gas 3.4%, npower 3% and SSE 2%.

Scottish Power gets 39.1% from coal, E.ON 33%, npower 31%, SSE and EDF 24% and British Gas 15%.

Because of its large nuclear use, EDF gets less power from gas than any of the other ‘Big Six’ providers: just 3.2%. British Gas gets 72%, SSE 62%, npower 57%, E.ON 54%, and Scottish Power 52%.

Of the Big Six, SSE is the biggest user of renewables, where it gets 10% of its power. Next is Scottish Power with 8.4%, then EDF with 7%, npower on 6%, British Gas with 6.8%, and finally E.ON, which derives just 1.4% from renewables.

Of the 13 companies rated, only one, Good Energy, gets 100% of its energy from renewables. The next biggest renewables users were Loco2 (47%) and Green Energy (45%).

WWF Scotland’s director Richard Dixon said: “The good news is that our energy supply is slowly becoming greener, but these figures clearly show that too many companies are still generating electricity from dirty and dangerous sources. We need power companies to step up their investment in renewable energy sources and the clean-up of their existing power stations.

Graham Stein of electricityinfo.org said: “The fuel mix disclosure data show that different suppliers have very different fuel mixes, with the overall increase in renewables not spread evenly across the suppliers. The proportion of renewables varies from just one per cent up to one hundred per cent. Companies overall fuel mix is one thing consumers should consider when looking for a green tariff.”

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