British Gas's new business initiatives will include the launch of a service providing Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) which, under new legislation, are mandatory for those selling homes in the UK from 1 June 2007. EPCs will provide an energy efficiency rating for each building in a market where approximately 1.4 million homes are sold annually. British Gas Services plans to have trained 500 of its engineers to carry out the EPC surveys by the end of May and will recruit further engineers when required as the market expands.

A further new offering is solar heating panels, providing hot water supplies to the home, which British Gas engineers are now also qualified to install. In addition, through a new partnership between British Gas and certain local authorities, customers buying solar panels in some areas of the UK are able to earn a discount of up to five hundred pounds on their council tax. British Gas expects this scheme to be adopted by more local authorities.

Energylinx would encourage all consumers who are considering a green tariff to check whether or not what is on offer is best for you and really does offer an environmental benefit.

If you log onto the energy calculators at www.fuelmix.co.uk you will be see the actual CO2 impact as well as being able to see how much can be saved by changing energy supplier.