Print This Post
Bulletin: 23/2
Batch: 284
Reference: 40016
Product: Household
Advertiser: FloGas
Influencer:
Agency:
Medium: Online (3rd party), Radio
Codes:
ASAI Code 7th Edition: 2.4(c), 4.1, 4.4, 4.6, 4.9, 4.10, 15.2, 15.5
Radio advertising for Flogas stated:
Advert 1:
“Flogas now offer 100% green electricity. It feels good to know that as I cut my grass here the power's coming from 100% renewable sources. Also, good to know that Flogas plant 1 tree for every person that makes the switch, and the cherry on top? You can get a welcome bonus worth up to €220. I put the savings towards this fancy new electrical lawnmower.How's she cutting. Not bad at all.
The grass is definitely greener with Flogas. See for yourself.
T&C's apply switch to Flogas at flogas.ie to see our great range of offers or call us on …”Advert 2:
“Flogas now offer 100% green electricity. It feels good to know that as I cut my grass here the power's coming from 100% renewable sources. Also, good to know that Flogas plant 1 tree for every person that makes the switch, and the cherry on top? You can get a welcome bonus worth up to €220. I put the savings towards this fancy new electrical lawnmower.how's she cutting, not bad, not bad at all.
the grass is definitely greener on the Flogas side. See for yourself.
T&C's apply switch to Flogas at flogas.ie to see our great range of offers or call us on …”Online Advertising on a switching website stated:
“Green Future Electricity 42 2 Year”
Details of the plan were provided including payment type and billing type and also listed 3 benefits of the plan:
“€225 Online Welcome Bonus Plant a tree on your behalf 100% green electricity”Two complainants objected to the claim that the advertisers provided “100% green electricity” to customers as they understood that the electricity provided to customers was sourced from the national grid and was made up of both renewable and non-renewable fuel sources and that it was not possible for a company sourcing from the grid to provide only renewable energy.
The advertisers stated that they offered and communicated the supply of 100% Green Electricity and were certified to do so by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU). They said that energy companies with renewable claims were audited annually to ensure that they were complying with all requirements needed for the supply of Renewable Energy. They referred to the CRU’s latest Green Source Verification Report 2020*1 and said that the report included a summary of what constituted 100% Renewable and how the CRU go about auditing Energy Companies who supply same. They referred to the below statement from the report:
“Public/ Customer Impact Statement
Green source products are tariff plans offered by electricity suppliers guaranteeing the source of electricity to be 100% renewable for any customer on that plan. This report provides verification of electricity suppliers’ green source product offerings for 2020 to certify that a customer on such an offering was using electricity sourced entirely from renewable generation, including Guarantees of Origin certificates. Outlined in this report is each supplier’s verified fuel mix for both their green and non-green customers.The CRU and SEMO carry out an independent verification process and publish the results of suppliers’ green source products each year. All suppliers offering green source products complete the same single verification process to make it easier for customers to understand the process and trust its accuracy. It is considered that such a verification and this subsequent CRU report on suppliers’ green source offerings should provide public confidence that appropriate oversight of suppliers’ fuel source claims are in place.”
They also said that the report outlined the classification of a Green Sourced Product as being either providing for investment in environmentally beneficial schemes (e.g. investment in a specific technology or carbon offsets); or guaranteeing that a customer’s electricity is sourced from renewable generation. They said that the Green Source Product Verification concerned the second form of green source products, that is, the guarantee that a customer’s electricity was sourced from renewable generation, including Guarantees of Origin. They said that the report included a list of energy suppliers who had applied for 100% renewable certification, including their own company, and therefore, they were entitled to make the claim by the CRU.
The advertisers also said that energy companies with 100% Renewable verification were obliged to communicate their fuel mix on their bills and screenshot of their fuel mix:
Flogas Fuel Mix Disclosure January 2020 to December 2020
Electricity supplied has been sourced from the following fuels Electricity supplied by Flogas Average for all island market (for comparison) Renewable 100% 57.9% Natural Gas 0% 35.8% Coal 0% 3.0% Peat 0% 2.1% Other 0% 1.2% Total 100% 100% The advertisers considered that they had shown that they had sought and obtained their certification as a supplier of 100% Renewable Electricity.
*1 https://www.cru.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CRU21118a-Green-Source-Product-Verification-Report-2020- V.2.1.pdf
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU):
The Executive sought a view from the CRU on the claim “100% Green Energy” when energy provided to consumers came from a pooled grid that included both renewable and non-renewable energy. The CRU provided a statement in response.They stated that EU Renewables Directive and Irish legislation allowed the use of guarantees of origin (GOs) for fuel mix disclosure for the purposes of demonstrating to final customers the share or quantity of energy from renewable sources in an electricity supplier's energy mix and in the electricity supplied to consumers.
They said that they recognised the importance of maintaining confidence in the Guarantees of Origin process, and rigorously oversaw the application of the CRU’s verification process and reporting of this data in line with EU legislation to ensure the validity and accuracy of what information consumers receive.
The said that they published Fuel Mix Disclosure information every year to provide consumers with the information necessary to distinguish between electricity supply companies based on their individual fuel mix and emissions associated with their supplied electricity and it was the method of independently verifying the source of electricity that suppliers claim to provide to their consumers.
They said that all suppliers with retail customers were required to submit a fuel mix declaration to SEMO (Single Electricity Market Operator*2) so that a representative fuel mix could be calculated and disclosed and that suppliers were also obliged under the terms of their licenses to present Fuel Mix Disclosure data on their bills and promotional materials.
The CRU said that the Renewables Directive was explicit in restricting the double- counting of GOs and a given GO could only be used once and any one MWh of renewable energy produced could only be issued as one GO certificate.
They said that the SEMO issued and cancelled GOs in accordance with the CRU’s “Supervisory Framework for Administration of Guarantees of Origin” and that the GO certificates were precisely defined tracking instruments of the European Commission and were only traded between European countries, and solely accounted for through a European trading hub (i.e. the Association of Issuing Bodies). They said that imported GOs must adhere to EU-wide standards as set by this hub, which tracked certificates traded between countries, ensuring that double-counting did not take place.
They said that suppliers’ fuel mix information referred not only to green electricity physically produced in Ireland, but also to the verified green electricity that could be sourced from other European countries through Guarantee of Origin (GO) Certificates. They said that Irish electricity suppliers could purchase GOs to use as proof of the share or quantity of their energy demand from renewable sources in Europe and allowed suppliers to purchase the renewable benefit of certain generators across Europe and include it in their total fuel mix. They said that this meant that the fuel mix shown by suppliers could have a higher percentage share of renewable energy sources than existed in the actual physical generation distributed to end customers via the grid in Ireland.
They said that they considered that the supervisory framework and the CRU’s verification process for green products were robust enough to provide adequate assurances of the validity of Guarantees of Origin and reliable fuel mix disclosures by suppliers for their electricity customers. Finally, they provided links to the following documents:
• CRU’s verification process for green products*3
• CRU’s “Supervisory Framework for Administration of Guarantees of Origin*4
• CRU’s annual Fuel Mix Disclosure publications*5Following further consultation by the ASAI Executive, the CRU said that the current disclosure of the consumed product mix and supplier fuel mix is slightly confusing to the end electricity consumers in Ireland and that they recognised that the increased information would be beneficial to customers. On foot of a proposal by the ASAI Executive to explore developing advertising guidance in this area, they indicated that they would be happy to engage with the ASAI and the utility providers on the ASAI Executive’s initiative.
*2 https://www.sem-o.com/about/
*3 https://www.cru.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/CER15205-Green-Source-Products-Decision-Paper.pdf
*4 https://www.cru.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cer11824.pdf
*5 https://www.cru.ie/document_group/fuel-mix-and-co2-emissions-disclosure-2/
Complaints Upheld:
The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaints and the advertisers’ response. They also noted the information provided by Commission for Regulation of Utilities.
The Complaints Committee were aware of the importance for society of the climate change agenda, including the switch from fossil fuel to renewables. They generally understood that there was one electricity grid in Ireland into which generated electricity was transmitted for distribution to end users. Further, electricity generated by different means was not differentiated once it was transmitted to the grid, i.e., it is then a homogenous product.
The Complaints Committee noted the information on the construction of the Single Electricity Market. They also noted the EU and national legislation in place underpinning the market. They considered that information for consumers could be improved, and that significant care was needed in the creation of advertising messages so as not to exaggerate what could be delivered to individual premises. The Committee considered that there would be significant benefit for consumers were guidance to be developed for the energy utilities on advertising claims and welcomed that the ASAI and the CRU would be addressing this matter.
The Committee noted the advertising claim which stated, “It feels good to know that as I cut my grass here the power's coming from 100% renewable sources.”
Electricity which was provided to end users’ premises from the national grid was comprised of electricity generated from a mix of fuel sources, both non-renewable sources and renewable energy. These objective factors were incompatible with advertising claims that the electricity delivered to end users was ‘100% renewable. As the advertising clearly implied the power used by the end user was coming from 100% renewable sources, the Committee considered the advertising claims to be in breach Section 4.1, 4.4, 4.9, 4.10,
15.2 and 15.5 of the Code.ACTION REQUIRED:
The advertising should not appear in its current form again.
The Committee noted that the ASAI and the CRU were addressing the requirement for guidance in the area.