Every year, the U.S. Department of Energy ranks the leading utility "green pricing" programs. 500 utilities in 33 states now offer programs that enable people to support creation of renewable energy sources by paying a small premium on their electric bill.
DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed a Top-10 ranking of utility programs in categories such as 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 sales of green power, the Austin (Texas) Energy ranks first in the nation, followed by Portland (Ore.) General Electric, Sacramento (Calif.) Municipal Utility District, PacifiCorp, also of Portland, Ore., and Xcel Energy of St. Paul, Minn.
Ranked by customer participation rates, the top five are Lenox (Iowa) Municipal Utilities, City of Palo Alto (Calif.) Utilities, Moorhead (Minn.) Public Service, Holy Cross Energy (Colo.), and Montezuma (Iowa) Municipal Light and Power and Orcas Power and Light Cooperative in (Wash.), in a tie.
Loading...