From the 1st January 2003, Spanish families can change their electricity company at no cost. This is why electricity suppliers are currently finalising their marketing strategy; low-interest credits, insurance and alarms, telephony, internet access, holidays or legal assessment are some of the new services with which they will attempt to keep their 22 million clients - 97% of them domestic - and, if possible, prise some from the competition.

Before the imminent liberalisation of the energy sector in Spain, the environmental organisation WWF/Adena presented in Madrid the work that the European Grid of Green Energy (EUGENE) is carrying out. The EUGENE proposal hinges on the fact that consumers have a right to know the origin and environmental impact of the electricity they receive.

EUGENE's proposal makes perfect sense in a free energy market, giving the consumer the right to choose an electricity company that supplies green electricity, that's to say electricity produced by energy sources that have little environmental impact compared to traditional generating methods.

To determine what is green electricity - companies can distribute it mixed up with electricity generated from more traditional sources - EUGENE has developed an independent system of certification, drawn up by ecologists, consumers, businessmen and investigative institutes specialised in the development and promotion of efficient and renewable energy sources.

The EUGENE grid already works in Germany, Switzerland, the United States, Australia and England, where renewable energy is regarded as green, but at varying levels. Also green and highly efficient is cogeneration - the simultaneous production of electricity and hot water in natural gas plants.

The idea is that EUGENE becomes a uniform Europe-wide system, with national institutions putting it into practice. If an electricity product meets the suggested criteria, the supplier will be allowed to display the EUGENE logo. This voluntary label gives the consumer the peace of mind that the product they are buying is truly what it says it is: electric energy produced via renewable means with minimal environmental impact.

Each country has different prices for green electricity. According to Heikki Willstedt, of WWF/Adena, green electricity costs between 5% and 40% more than conventional electricity, although in Holland it costs less thanks the fiscal advantages that consumers receive. It is precisely this difference in price that the Association of Renewable Energy Producers (APPA) is studying.

Faced with the uncertainty of whether consumers are willing to pay more, the obligatory labelling seems to be a more effective system. However, the directive on the liberalisation of the electric markets, finally approved by the Council of the Ministers of Energy of the EU on 25 November, only requires the suppliers to include in the bill details of the different sources of energy used to produce the electricity. Some member states, among them Spain, opposed the inclusion of information on the environmental impact of the different sources of energy.

Did you know�?

- In 1998 California's Power Content Label became the first obligatory electricity label. Today it used in 21 other states. In Europe, labelling the wattage is compulsory in Austria and soon in Belgium, Holland and Switzerland.

- Javier Uriarte, director of Endesa Energ�a, has calculated that between 2003 and 2006 some 25% of Spanish families - 5 million people - will change their electricity supplier.