Blue for Business

EDF Energy has a track record of operating, investing in and promoting nuclear power. This is clearly seen in our new nuclear build programme, but also in our efforts to promote the benefits of nuclear power worldwide.

We do this because we believe:

• In nuclear power and the positive contribution it can have.
• There are genuine differences between the various types of generation.
• In our view, the more businesses engage with where their electricity comes from, the more businesses will become aware of the carbon contribution being made on their behalf by electricity generators and suppliers.

As part of this ongoing work, we’ve now launched Blue for Business which can be chosen as an option within our business electricity supply contracts. Blue is backed by generation sourced from our nuclear power stations. As such, they have very low-carbon emissions associated with them. We’ve done this because:

• We want businesses to think about where their power comes from and to be clear about how the majority of it’s generated.
• We hope this clarity will help businesses engage with the issue of electricity generation and in particular - nuclear. We want businesses to appreciate nuclear power as we do and to engage with it through our products.
• This initiative is about clarity and engagement around nuclear, we want to be clear about what Blue for Business is NOT as well as what it is.
• We want to ensure that customers are buying this product because they agree with the values our products stand for.

To help understand the benefits fully, we’ve put together some frequently asked questions and provided clear and transparent answers.

Energy sources	National Grid	Your business
Electricity is generated from a variety of sources, including low-carbon nuclear power	Electricity is then transmitted through the National Grid and through your local distribution network.	Then we supply the electricity to your business.

This means that the actual electricity coming into your business can not be physically identified as coming from a particular type of generation source, so for our Blue customers we match the electricity we estimate they have used with electricity from a low-carbon source: nuclear power.

Whilst we are not promising that the electricity you use in your business will have come directly from a low-carbon nuclear source, we will ensure that we obtain enough electricity generated from a low-carbon nuclear source to match every unit of electricity estimated to have been supplied to our Blue customers.

How low can A-rated electricity take your business’s carbon emissions?

Modern carbon reporting standards like the GHG Protocol allow businesses to base their carbon emissions reporting on the choice they make for their electricity purchases (called market-based emissions), as well as their grid connection (called location-based emissions).

Using both numbers provides a fairer and more complete way to assess a business’s efforts to control its carbon emissions by choosing to purchase low-carbon electricity and being more energy efficient.

Choosing an A-rated supply like Blue reduces your business’s market-based emissions to zero.

What is A-rated electricity?

A-rated electricity comes from generation technologies that emit less than 20 grams of CO2 per kWh of electricity they produce.

This is based on an electricity label recommended by an independent body for sustainable economy called Aldersgate Group. The label helps businesses show their support for low-carbon electricity generation by including it in their carbon emissions reports.

Read the Enable The Label report here: www.aldersgategroup.org.uk/our-reports

How do we make sure your electricity supply backed by low-carbon generation?

• We make sure that by the end of a Fuel Mix Reporting Year (runs April to March), we have secured enough low-carbon electricity from nuclear power stations to at least match the total volume of electricity we estimate we have supplied to all Blue customers in that period.
• We do this using the same methodology to create our fuel label and regularly review our low-carbon matching process.
• We were the first energy supplier to carry out externally verified audits on our electricity source and worked with PwC for 7 years on auditing our electricity source position. During this period, we’ve worked to improve our processes to robustly track and manage our fuel source position when backing electricity supply contracts with energy from nuclear sources and renewable sources. Given this long commitment to improving our processes, we now have sufficiently vigorous processes in place to confidently guarantee our electricity sources.

How can I be sure Blue enables my business to report lower carbon emissions?

• The GHG Protocol states that to report carbon emissions from a low-carbon electricity supply product appropriately, organisations should look for power backed by Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs), Guarantees of Origin (GoOs) or Generator Declarations.
• Blue for Business is backed by Generator Declarations, giving you a 100% guarantee of the source of your electricity supply.

What are the environmental benefits of choosing Blue?

• Choosing Blue (or any low-carbon supply for that matter) does not directly reduce the UK’s carbon footprint.
• Instead it shows simply choosing to support a type of generation that emits very little carbon dioxide: in this case nuclear.
• We simply want you to be clear that the electricity we purchase to meet Blue demand is from nuclear generation, which is very low carbon.

As a Blue customer is my property physically connected to a nuclear power station?

• No. Electricity from all power stations reaches your property via the national grid. There is not a direct connection.

Links to useful information

• Greenhouse Gas Protocol: www.ghgprotocol.org
• Defra Environmental Reporting Guidelines: www.gov.uk/measuring-and-reporting-environmental-impacts-guidance-for-businesses
• Carbon Footprint of Electricity Generation: www.parliament.uk/documents/post/postpn268.pdf
• Carbon Disclosure Project www.cdp.net