Green behaviours are gradually working their way into our ordinary lives, with 70 per cent of people saying they don’t leave appliances on ‘standby’ settings and 61 per cent taking measures to use energy efficiently by putting in insulation.

But only 200,000 people countrywide are signed up to a green energy tariff, despite the publicity surrounding the plethora of green products arriving on the marketplace.

Revisions to the five per cent VAT government currently imposes on green tariffs will be needed to drive green tariff take-up beyond the current 0.8 per cent of the population opting to go green, stressed uSwitch.com energy manager Geoff Slaughter.

“Consumers need to see viable alternatives that will not adversely affect their pockets,” he emphasised.

Otherwise, many customers will continue to shy away from paying the four per cent extra they must pay on average for choosing to go green with their energy payments.

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