Shell switches over 700,000 customers to renewable electricity

• Shell re-brands energy and broadband provider First Utility as Shell Energy.
• Shell agreed to buy First Utility in December 2017, and completed the purchase in February 2018.

Daniel Bockwoldt | picture alliance | Getty Images

Shell has re-branded energy and broadband provider First Utility as Shell Energy and switched the firm's residential customers in Britain to a 100 percent renewable electricity supply.

In an announcement Monday, Shell said that customers of Shell Energy would be offered renewable electricity from sources such as biomass, solar and wind, as standard. Over 700,000 homes were switched to renewables, Shell said. 

Shell announced it had agreed to buy First Utility in December 2017, and the acquisition was completed in February 2018.

"This is a good example of our approach to building a significant electricity business, in line with customer needs," Mark Gainsborough, executive vice president, Shell New Energies, said in a statement Monday.

"Shell recognizes the world needs more energy with lower emissions and this will give customers more flexibility, greater control and cleaner energy," he added.

Shell New Energies was set up in 2016 and focuses on new fuels for transport, including advanced biofuels, and power.