Green Mountain Power Offers Renewable Energy
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03.14.06
Green Mountain Power announced today that its customers now have the choice of buying all or a portion of their power from renewable resources. The Vermont-based utility will purchase certified renewable resources on the New England power grid equal to the portion of electricity customers designate to purchase through the new program, appropriately named "Greener Mountain Power." The program is available to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Residential and small commercial customers can choose to have 25 percent, 50 percent or 100 percent of their power come from renewable resources. The renewable power option is slightly more expensive; customers pay just over four cents more per kilowatt hour. For example, for residential customers who use 750 kilowatt hours a month, signing up for 25 percent of their use under Greener Mountain Power would add $7.88 to their $97.55 monthly bill, for a total of $105.43. We think opportunities like these are worth the extra pennies. ::Green Mountain Power via ::CSRWire
NJ residents can do the same here: http://www.njcleanpower.com/
"The renewable power option is slightly more expensive; customers pay just over four cents more per kilowatt hour."
That's "slightly" more?
Their basic residential rate is 11.8 cents/kWh.
http://www.greenmountainpower.biz/elect_construct/rate01_e.pdf
The "greener" surcharge is 4.2 cents/kWh.
http://www.greenmountainpower.biz/docs/residentialsignup.pdf
That's a 36% premium.
By contrast, we have the 100% wind option through Xcel (who are not a "green" company by any stretch of the imagination) and our net surcharge is 1.0 cents/kWh, with base winter rates at 6.6 cents/kWh and summer rates ay 7.6 cents/kWh. So, our effective wind premium is 13-15%.
Of course, the fixed service charges, taxes, fees, etc for a residential account make the gross cost per kWh higher.
I'm all for Renewable Energy, just remember there are other companines out there to purchase from as well...
http://www.boycottgreenmountain.com/
Many local utilities around the nation offer Green Power options.
Check out:
http://www.green-e.org/your_e_choices/pyp.html
Often it is public capital, i.e., your money funding the equipment for these projects. Who gets the tax write-off for these wind machines?
Nerrad,
Where else can I get renewable energy? I'm a VT resident.