More Renewable Energy, One Customer at a Time
Posted on June 5, 2013 by Jeff Bissonnette
Tags, Consumers and Utility Customers, Utility Regulation
Oregon is an innovative place. We find practical solutions for common problems that become models on how to solve those problems for the rest of the country.
Want public access to the beautiful Oregon coastline? Adopt the Oregon Beach Bill.
Want to clean up litter on Oregon roadsides? Pass the Oregon Bottle Bill.
Want to do a better job at running energy efficiency programs than the utilities were doing? Create the Energy Trust of Oregon.
Want to offer utility customers the choice to bring more renewable energy into the system? Create a portfolio of voluntary energy options for Portland General Electric and Pacific Power customers.
It’s been awhile since we wrote about the utilities’ renewable energy options, which CUB helped develop. Back in 2010, the PGE and Pacific Power renewable energy programs were the largest in the country run by private utilities with 10 percent of PGE’s customers participating in a renewable energy option and 7 percent of Pacific Power’s customer participating.
In the intervening years, the programs have continued to grow. By the end of 2012, PGE’s participation grew to nearly 12 percent of its customers and Pacific Power’s program grew to include 8 percent. On June 5, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced that PGE is the top utility in the country for voluntary renewable energy programs in terms of both customer participation and energy sales (the first time that has ever happened). Pacific Power was named as number 2 in the country in customer participation in these voluntary renewable programs and was third in the country in terms of energy sales.
Do these programs really make a difference? According to the Renewable NW Project (RNP)*, as of 2010, Northwest utility customers had purchased enough renewable energy to power 142,000 homes. Altogether, a total of 590 megawatts of renewable energy is being voluntarily purchased in the region. That’s larger than just about any fossil fuel plant and total more than the combined output of the Northwest’s two largest wind farms. That’s a lot of renewable energy—over and above the required purchases under the state’s Renewable Energy Standard.
So, what’s changed with the programs these days? Well, for one thing, both PGE and Pacific Power dropped their prices for program participants. This was a result of low prices in the market for renewable energy certificates, or RECs, that are issued based on output from a renewable energy plant. So it’s a little cheaper to participate than it was just a couple of years ago.
Also, the Portfolio Options Committee, the group appointed by the Public Utility Commission to oversee the renewable energy choices, has been working on a system to enable them to keep an ongoing eye on how customers’ money is being spent in the program. Committee members wanted a way to keep track of expenses over time and are completing development of a system to allow them to do that formally on an annual basis. Since the committee oversees the two biggest voluntary renewable programs in the country, they wanted to ensure that consumer confidence in the programs remained strong. CUB staffers Jeff Bissonnette and Sommer Templet serve on the committee.
Another issue the Portfolio Options Committee will be looking at soon is the impact of Oregon’s Renewable Energy Standard on the programs. When the programs first started out back in 2002, the percentage of renewable resources in the energy mix was very small. Today, both PGE and Pacific Power exceed 5 percent of their load being met by renewable energy and they will be required to meet at least 15 percent of their loads through renewable resources by 2015 and that will increase to 25 percent by 2025. That starts to have an impact on the voluntary products. As the required amount of renewables grows, the amount that voluntary purchases can cover is reduced. This will have an impact on a whole range of issues within the voluntary options programs and CUB will be actively engaged with the committee to make sure that residential consumers are protected.
What if you’re not a PGE or Pacific Power customer? Here’s a comprehensive list from our friends at RNP of voluntary renewable programs throughout Oregon. Check to see if your utility is on the list. If it’s not, ask them to start up a voluntary program. If you are a PGE or Pacific Power customer, sign up today and do your part to create a cleaner energy mix for your utility.
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* CUB is a member of RNP.
04/03/17 | 0 Comments | More Renewable Energy, One Customer at a Time