The electricity industry is changing. At least 50% of customers have the option to purchase renewable electricity directly from their power supplier, and everyone has the option of purchasing renewable energy certificates.
In most states, you can buy renewable electricity through one or more of the following programs:
Green Pricing
Some power companies provide an optional service, called green pricing, that allows customers to pay a small premium in exchange for electricity generated from renewable ("green") energy sources. The premium covers the increased costs incurred by the power provider (i.e., electric utility) when adding renewable energy to its power generation mix.
Competitive Electricity Markets
In some parts of the country, you can choose not only how your electricity is generated, but also who generates it.
Just as the long-distance telephone industry was restructured, certain states have restructured their electricity industry in order to allow competition among electricity generators. In some of these states, power generators who specialize in producing electricity using renewable sources are taking advantage of the restructured market to sell renewable electricity products to residential, commercial, and wholesale customers. Some default suppliers are also teaming with these competitive marketers to offer more renewable power options.
Efforts to sell renewable electricity are aimed at consumers who will choose to pay slightly more for renewable energy products and services that reflect their environmental values. The small premium you pay offsets the additional costs power companies incur in purchasing and/or generating electricity from renewable sources.
Green Certificates
Buying green certificates allows you to contribute to the generation of renewable power even if you can't buy it from your power provider (i.e., electric utility) or from a power generator on the competitive market.
An increasing number of renewable power generators are now separating the power that they sell to power providers from the environmental attributes associated with that power. These environmental attributes, called green certificates (also known as "green tags," "renewable energy certificates," or "tradable renewable certificates"), are then sold to companies and individuals who want to help increase the amount of renewable power entering our nation's electricity supply.
By separating the environmental attributes from the power, renewable power generators are able to sell the electricity they produce to power providers at a competitive market value. The additional revenue generated by the sale of the green certificates covers the above-market costs associated with producing power made from renewable energy sources. This extra revenue also encourages the development of additional renewable energy projects.
Several organizations offer green energy or renewable energy certificates that can be purchased separate from your current electricity service.
You have the option to purchase renewable electricity, either directly from your power supplier, from an independent clean power generator, or through renewable energy certificates. | Photo courtesy of Alstom 2010.
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