I WAS pleased to see your newspaper carrying an article about Lancashire County Council's decision to buy green electricity from Yorkshire Electricity (LET, January 17).

I was disappointed however to see the tongue-in-cheek piece by Eric Leaver that followed it (LET, January 24), in which he mused whether it is 'all bull' and questioned how anyone can tell whether the power going to County Hall in Preston is generated from renewable sources or by a coal or gas-fired power station.

The simple answer is you can't -- unless a whole new electricity network was constructed, which would be environmentally disastrous.

It is impossible to channel green electricity to individual premises and, therefore, impossible to tell where the power has come from when you switch on a light.

The way our scheme works is that for every unit of electricity bought by a customer opting for green electricity, we purchase a unit from a renewable generator. Therefore, every unit of green electricity sold means there will be one less unit generated from traditional coal fired power stations.

And this is good news for all of us, as it helps organisations such as Lancashire County Council meet their environmental objectives and also helps reduce levels of air pollution.

Yorkshire Electricity is keen to see more electricity in the UK generated from a wide variety of renewable sources and hopes that by making a commitment to purchase green electricity and offering it to both business and domestic customers, we are helping to secure the future of this fledgling industry.

JOHN DAYNES, Local Authority Development Manager, Yorkshire Electricity, Scarcroft, Leeds.