April 25, 2007—The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently released its annual ranking of leading utility green power programs. Under these voluntary programs, consumers can choose to help support additional electricity production from renewable resources such as solar and wind. More than 600 utilities across the US offer these programs, notes NREL.
Using information provided by utilities, NREL develops “Top 10” rankings of utility programs in the following categories: total sales of renewable energy to program participants, 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 leaders are: 1/ Austin Energy Wind, 2/ Portland General Electric, 3/ Florida Power & Light, 4/ PacifiCorp, 5/ Xcel Energy, 6/ Basin Electric Power Cooperative, 7/ Sacramento Municipal Utility District, 8/ National Grid, 9/ OG&E Electric Services, and 10/ Puget Sound Energy.
Ranked by the total number of customer participants, the Top 10 are: 1/ Xcel Energy, 2/ PacifiCorp, 3/ Portland General Electric, 4/ Sacramento Municipal Utility District, 5/ PECO, 6/ Florida Power & Light, 7/ Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, 8/ National Grid, 9/ Puget Sound Energy, and 10/ We Energies.
Ranked by customer participation rates, the top utilities are: 1/ City of Palo Alto Utilities, 2/ Lenox Municipal Utilities, 3/ Montezuma Municipal Light & Power, 3/ Portland General Electric, 5/ Sacramento Municipal Utility District, 6/ Silicon Valley Power, 7/ Holy Cross Energy, 8/ Central Electric Cooperative, 9/ River Falls Municipal Utilities, and 10/ Orcas Power and Light Cooperative.
Ranked by the lowest premium charged to support new renewables development, the leaders are: 1/ Austin Energy, 2/ OG&E Electric Services, 3/ Edmond Electric, 4/ Avista Utilities, 5/ Indianapolis Power and Light, 6/ Eugene Water and Electric Board, 7/ Clallam County Public Utility District, 8/ PacifiCorp, 9/ Idaho Power, 10/ Mason County PUD 3, 10/ Sacramento Municipal Utility District, and 10/ Wisconsin Public Service Corporation. For more information visit NREL’s Top Ten Utility Green Power Programs Web page.
