Green Energy Sales
In 2006 we introduced Nuon VastePrijsNatuurStroom (fixed-price green power) and Nuon NatuurCertificaten (CO2 compensation certificates). The total number of green customers declined further in 2006.
Green Energy - Consumers
Green Energy – Business Market
Green Energy - Consumers
In 2006 two new green products were launched, namely Nuon NatuurCertificaten (CO2 compensation certificates) and Nuon VastePrijsNatuurStroom (fixed-price green power). We have thus widened our product portfolio as a contribution towards reducing CO2 emissions resulting from consumer energy consumption.
In 2006 no promotions were carried out for Nuon GroenStroom. Nuon has two green energy products: Nuon GroenStroom and Nuon NatuurStroom. Since 2005 Nuon has focused exclusively on the promotion of Nuon NatuurStroom which is generated with wind, sun and hydro and is consequently 100% CO2-free. In 2006 many Nuon GroenStroom customers again opted for a fixed price with Nuon VastePrijsStroom. As a result, the number of Nuon GroenStroom customers declined further from 387,309 to 280,655.
Many of our customers are keen to arrange a fixed price for their electricity supply. In response to this wish, a fixed-price product was also introduced in 2006 for Nuon NatuurStroom customers: Nuon VastePrijsNatuurStroom. The launch was a great success. This new product has proved particularly popular among NatuurStroom customers. In 2006 28,577 customers switched over to VastePrijsNatuurStroom.
The total number of customers that used energy generated from Dutch sun, wind and hydro declined slightly from 125,764 to 123,955, thus further stabilising the defection of Nuon NatuurStroom and Nuon VastePrijsNatuurStroom customers. Our ambition now is to retain the existing group of Nuon NatuurStroom and Nuon VastePrijsNatuurStroom customers for this product, and to grow the number of customers in 2007.
In December 2006 we also launched Nuon NatuurCertificaten, a compensation product for gas consumed by customers. Customers can thus compensate their gas consumption by buying certificates for tree plantation and other CO2 emission-reducing projects. No official campaign was conducted in 2006, which was mainly a test year. The tests resulted in several hundreds of customers. In 2007 an active campaign is being conducted to promote NatuurCertificaten.
Green Energy – Business Market
The number of business Nuon NatuurStroom customers declined slightly from 365 in 2005 to 345 in 2006. This was the consequence of expiring contracts and business discontinuations. The Greenstep and Greenpower products are being phased out. At the end of 2006 there were no longer any active contracts for Nuon Greenpower. At year-end 2006 Nuon Greenstep had 955 customers with a total consumption of over 105 GWh.
We found that too few Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin from wind, solar and hydro power were used for business customers in 2005 and 2006 (2005: 13.433 GWh, 2006: 10.630 GWh). It was also found that part of the total supply of NatuurStroom to business customers (2005: 69.108 GWh, 2006: 68.782 GWh) was sourced from large-scale hydro power whereas the product definition stipulated the use of small-scale hydro power. This was due to an internal interpretation difference in the purchase of certificates for NatuurStroom. In 2007 Nuon will compensate the observed differences in its purchasing and study the preceding years in greater detail.
Business customers who wish to make their grey energy consumption greener can opt for a green power guarantee: the Nuon Groen Garantie. In 2006 the Nuon Groen Garantie was used for the greening of over 213 GWh. Most of the customers using this product formerly had a Nuon Greenstep or Nuon Greenpower contract.
