What is the Carbon Neutral Natural Gas Fixed Price Plan?

On one of the plans, you can lock-in a natural gas price and at the same time support environmental initiatives that help offset the negative effects of Carbon Dioxide.

How does your Carbon Neutral Plan work? When you sign up for this Plan, Direct Energy will, for each calendar year, purchase and retire carbon offsets sufficient to match the carbon emissions produced by the consumption by a residential customer of 3,000 cubic metres of natural gas (which is an average of the yearly residential consumption of natural gas). Being “carbon neutral” under this plan means that each year you will be offsetting the carbon emissions associated with consuming (burning) 3,000 cubic metres of natural gas in your home. If you consumer more than 3,000 cubic metres, that excess will not be carbon neutral.

Does this mean that I am getting a different kind of natural gas? No. your natural gas is the same natural gas commodity whether or not you enroll in the Carbon Neutral Plan.

What are carbon offsets? A carbon offset is an offset or credit usually generated by a project that reduced or removed the amount of carbon emitted into the environment during a certain period of time. Offsets may be issued and tracked through a central authority, or they may be purchased directly from project owners. Offsets are not created until after the reduction or removal of the harmful carbon has occurred. The projects, which may be located worldwide, may include agricultural methane, biomass, energy efficiency and fuel switching, methane capture from landfills and coal mines, and renewable energy projects. Direct Energy may purchase offsets from a variety of sources within Canada and internationally.

Natural Gas Fact

How does deregulation help you? The power of choice. In Ontario, deregulation began October 31, 1985. Since then, consumers have been able to choose their natural gas supplier as opposed to being forced to purchase from the regulated utility