2006 Leading Utility Green Power Programs

Green Power Price Premium Gap Narrows 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released its annual ranking of leading utility green power programs.  Over 600 utilities across the country offer voluntary green power programs that allow their customers to choose to support electricity production from renewable resources such as solar and wind.

According to senior NREL energy analyst Lori Bird, “Utility green power sales continue to show strong growth across the country.” Thanks to customer choice programs, total utility green power sales exceeded 3.5 billion kilowatt-hours in 2006, about a 30% increase over 2005, with more than 500,000 customers participating in green power programs nationwide. 

Utility green pricing programs are one segment of a larger green power marketing industry that counts Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and colleges and universities among its customers, and helps support more than 2,500 MW of renewable electricity generation capacity.

Based on information provided from utilities, NREL developed “Top 10” rankings of utility programs in the following categories: total sales of renewable energy, total number of customer participants, customer participation rate and the lowest price premium charged for a green pricing service using new renewable resources.

Ranked by renewable energy sales, the green power program of Austin (Texas) Energy is first in the nation, followed by Portland General Electric, Florida Power & Light, PacifiCorp and Xcel Energy.  

One surprise from this year’s results is that the rate premium consumers are paying for renewable energy is dropping.  This year’s top 10 utilities all have rate premiums that are less than $.01/kWh more than conventional energy sources with Austin Energy actually providing discounts on energy sourced from wind and landfill gases.

To find out if your local utility made this year’s Top 10 list, visit Top Ten Utility Green Power Programs at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) website.

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