ASA Adjudication on British Gas Trading Ltd

Ad

A magazine ad feature, headlined "The footprint challenge in association with Scottish Gas", featured an interview with a celebrity about environmental issues. The bottom of the ad stated "The electricity we supply has the lowest CO2 emissions of any of the major energy suppliers. To see how you can make a difference where you live visit scottishgas.co.uk/ee".

Issue

The complainant, who believed low carbon electricity could not be distinguished because supplies were pooled in the national grid, challenged whether Scottish Gas could substantiate the claim.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

British Gas Trading Ltd t/a Scottish Gas (Scottish Gas) said the Electricity (Fuel Mix Disclosure) Regulations 2005 obligated all holders of an Electricity Supply License to publish, on an annual basis, the fuel mix & associated carbon emissions from the electricity they supply to the national grid. They said Ofgem provided guidance to licensed electricity suppliers on how to perform the calculations to ensure the published data was both accurate and consistent. Scottish Gas maintained that they could quite accurately and legitimately quantify the carbon emissions from the electricity they supplied to the national grid, which demonstrated that they had the lowest CO2 emissions of any of the major energy suppliers.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted the complainant's assertion that electricity could not be distinguished as it was pooled in the National Grid before distribution to consumers.  We noted, however, that Electricity (Fuel Mix Disclosure) Regulations required all providers to produce detailed data on their fuel mix for their electricity prior to it being fed into the National Grid. We considered that that data provided an accurate basis for a comparison of the CO2 emissions for each electricity provider and that it showed that Scottish Gas had lower CO2 emissions than the other major energy suppliers.   Although we noted some smaller and specialist electricity providers had lower CO2 emissions than Scottish Gas, we considered that the ad clearly explained that the claim related only to major energy providers.  We concluded that it was unlikely to mislead.

We investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 49.1 (Environmental Claims) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action required.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)