You’ve probably received a solicitation in your mailbox from your electric utility asking you to add on your monthly electric bills for 100 percent clean solar or wind power. Some are even selling green power certificates to offset greenhouse gas emissions.
Since 2005 the number of consumers who voluntarily signed up for such an agreement with utilities has tripled. This is almost certainly influenced by the increasing awareness about energy security and climate change. But their number is still a minority, with a sign-up rate of around two percent nationwide.
A majority of Americans favor the government’s effort to provide clean energy, and yet many people are reluctant to participate in these programs that require them to pay extra for their green power and wonder why they have to pay more for clean and sustainable energy.
Many Americans think the added monthly expense is too high. At present wind and solar power generation cost more when compared to power generated using fossil fuel. While it’s true that people want to support clean alternative power, many can’t afford to spend more on their monthly electric bills because of the state of the economy and other reasons.
People are also concerned about whether the money is really going toward green energy projects rather than anywhere else. The federal government has looked into this issue, but the results were inconclusive. Experts agree that some green power programs work better than others.
Last year Florida Power and Light’s Sunshine Energy was terminated by the state’s Public Service Commission after an audit found that the utility was lagging behind on its promised solar power facilities. The Sunshine Energy program has more than 38,000 customers and was the sixth-largest program in the country. Additionally, 76 percent of contributions to the program were used for administrative and marketing expenses. Florida Power and Light countered that the utility used the majority of the contributions to educate the customers.
Around one-fourth of the country’s utilities offer green power programs, and at present big utility companies can’t deliver 100 percent renewable power to their customers. Rather, their electricity comes from different sources such as coal plants, solar power farms, and wind farms and go through the same power grid.
Some consumer advocacy groups have stated that the short-term nature of the voluntary green power programs have little effect on the long-term goal of providing 100 percent clean energy to consumers.
Because the country is still feeling the effects of the economic crunch, paying extra each month is something many people aren’t able to do financially. For this reason, it’s in the best interest of power utilities to create new ways to subsidize their alternative energy projects.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Recent Comments