Ten years ago, a North Dakota cooperative stopped charging customers a premium for getting energy from the wind, because they found it wasn’t costing anything extra. The cooperative, like many utilities, used a “green pricing” program that allowed customers to voluntarily pay more to get their energy solely from renewable resources. Dozens of utilities still use … Read More
Green pricing requires a few customers to pay a substantial premium for relatively little power. A much better way for consumers to increase the supply of renewable energy is to exercise "green citizenship." If a significant majority of the customers of a given utility vote for green energy, the utility can purchase a larger amount of renewables and spread the costs over its entire customer base. Often 10 times the amount of green electricity can be purchased at a fraction of the cost for an individual household.… Read More
