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Why are the prices of renewable energy companies going up?

We are Octopus energy customers. We get all our electricity from them and they guarantee that it is 100 per cent renewable (no C02 emissions caused by using it). In the last month our electricity bill has increased by 60 per cent and we are wondering why.

The cost of generating electricity from gas and fossil fuels has gone up substantially and is due to rise much higher in the coming months. Russia has reduced its sales of gas to Europe and the Opec cartel of oil producing countries have done the same with their oil. Shortage of supply is overwhelmingly the cause of increased electricity prices throughout Europe and the world generally.

But renewable energy comes from solar, wind, hydro and tidal sources which are in ample supply so why have the renewable energy companies increased their prices?

Ofgem tells me that the energy price that is charged to customers is calculated on the wholesale price of electricity which includes all forms of generation whether it comes from oil, gas, nuclear, or renewable. This means that ‘green’ energy companies have to sell their electricity at the same price as fossil fuel companies.

So there is no advantage in choosing a renewable energy company except the knowledge that you will be helping to combat climate change.

It seems to be Government policy that there is no price advantage for going ‘green’. Why should we not benefit from the lower cost of renewable energy? If green energy was cheaper, more people would start using it, more firms would start producing it and this would help to overcome the energy crisis and reduce global warming.

David Horncastle, Birkdale Close, Bessacarr, Doncaster.

At the conclusion of WW2 there was an acute shortage of coal which was used to fuel both industry and homes. As a kid I recall scavenging along the local railway line for chunks of coal which fell off the loaded trucks. It wasn't as dangerous as it sounds because you could hear a steam engine approaching half a mile away and we would stand aside and wave to the drivers as they passed.

The engines needed water and this was supplied from water towers placed at suitable intervals along the line. At one such tower close to us the firemen would tip out a few big chunks of coal from the tender and we would smash it into smaller pieces and share it between us.

We only had enough fuel to keep two low fires burning. The rest of the house was bitterly cold. We had my grandmother living with us. My father, whom I hadn't seen for four years, was a bricklayer and had secured early release from the army in the Far East suffered badly from the cold winter of 1947. He went scavenging for coal from a local pit tip. I sat through electrical power cuts doing my homework by candlelight.

As if this hardship wasn't enough, bread went on ration in 1946 along with many other foods and clothing.

However, we were all in it together and somehow we survived without any government assistance. But you don't see many overweight octogenarians do you?