LONDON: Last Friday was 'Green Britain Day,' at least according to French-owned energy company EDF (Electricité de France).
EDF used the day, which it invented, to try to bolster its green credentials. It was backed with a heavyweight advertising campaign, majoring on its status as the 'sustainability' partner for the 2012 Olympics to be held in London.
Rivals Npower, owned by the German firm RWE, and British-owned British Gas have hit back with their own ads saying they are 'greener' than EDF which has clearly annoyed them by seeking to highjack the green energy agenda.
It has also annoyed industry pressure group Ecotricity which says that EDF has pinched its logo for Green Britain Day, not to mention its message. Interestingly EDF's head of communications, and thus one of the likely main movers behind Green Britain Day, is Andrew Brown, younger brother of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Whether any of this has any effect on consumers is debatable.
Until relatively recently the UK was self-sufficient in most energy supplies but the Government sold off the various energy franchises to overseas companies for the most part, who now proceed to charge UK customers more for gas and electricity than they do their customers in France or Germany.
UK consumers fear that energy companies boasting about their green credentials are just trying to soften them up so they can charge more.
EDF used the day, which it invented, to try to bolster its green credentials. It was backed with a heavyweight advertising campaign, majoring on its status as the 'sustainability' partner for the 2012 Olympics to be held in London.
Rivals Npower, owned by the German firm RWE, and British-owned British Gas have hit back with their own ads saying they are 'greener' than EDF which has clearly annoyed them by seeking to highjack the green energy agenda.
It has also annoyed industry pressure group Ecotricity which says that EDF has pinched its logo for Green Britain Day, not to mention its message. Interestingly EDF's head of communications, and thus one of the likely main movers behind Green Britain Day, is Andrew Brown, younger brother of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Whether any of this has any effect on consumers is debatable.
Until relatively recently the UK was self-sufficient in most energy supplies but the Government sold off the various energy franchises to overseas companies for the most part, who now proceed to charge UK customers more for gas and electricity than they do their customers in France or Germany.
UK consumers fear that energy companies boasting about their green credentials are just trying to soften them up so they can charge more.
Data sourced from the Guardian; additional content by WARC staff
