Oregon Leads the Way in Voluntary Support for Renewables
Posted on April 7, 2006 by oregoncub
Tags, Climate and Conservation
Are you supporting renewables when you pay your electric bill?
If not, why not? The people of Oregon are leading the nation in voluntary renewable energy usage. Out of every investor-owned utility in the United States of America, the utility ranked #1 in voluntary customer purchases of renewable energy is PGE, and #2 is Pacific Power. That’s pretty amazing.
Why have so many more people in Oregon signed up? Well, first, because Oregonians understand and care about environmental stewardship. We talk about it, we think about it, and we make it a priority to elect those who feel the same way. Second, because the brochure explaining Oregon’s Portfolio Options, the choices for renewable energy that you have seen in your PGE or Pacific Power electric bill, are the culmination of a well-constructed and well-presented system that is easy to use and effective in boosting usage of clean energy sources. Third, because Oregon’s Portfolio Options combine the best of a competitive market (high quality product that is actively marketed) with the best of a regulatory system that keeps customers’ interests protected.
When you sign up for green power for your home (power produced from wind, solar, waste, geothermal or nontoxic biomass) you pay between $.01-$.02 more per kilowatt hour than you do for Basic Service, or about $5-$10 per month, depending on usage. Someone asked us the other day, “How do I know that the money I give to the utility for renewables actually goes there?” That was a really good question.
The answer is twofold: There is continuous programmatic oversight of Oregon’s Portfolio Options provided by the Portfolio Options Committee (POC). This Committee is made up of members of the public interest community, including CUB, Renewable Northwest Project, Oregon HEAT, and the Fair & Clean Energy Coalition, and members of local governments, the Oregon Dept of Energy, Oregon Public Utility Commission Staff, and representatives of the utilities involved, PGE and Pacific Power. The POC began meeting in 2000 to begin shaping the far-reaching plan for the shape and purpose of the Portfolio Options. The POC has advocated for transparency of the program, decided what qualifies as a renewable energy source, worked on making sure that no cronyism is allowed to dilute the cost-effectiveness of the program, and been precise about setting parameters for the relationships between the utilities and the green energy producers.
Since the Portfolio Options became available to the public in March 2002, the POC has gradually become more involved in problem-solving and offering ideas about the functioning of the program on a day-to-day level. For example, a CUB staff member on the POC found out after moving, within the same utility service district, that he had been dropped from the green energy program, a “you move, you lose” situation. If he hadn’t been checking his bill very carefully, he would never have known that he was no longer enrolled in the green power program. Despite some opposition from the utilities, it was agreed by the POC that this problem needed addressing, and they recommended a fix to the Commission. Now, when you move, and keep your same electricity provider, they are required to give you “seamless move” service, maintaining your green power preferences.
The other kind of oversight in place over the Portfolio Options, in addition to the POC work, is the Annual Reconciliation carried out by the Oregon PUC. Each year, PGE and Pacific Power are required to file a report that includes copies of the actual contracts they have signed with green power producers, along with the numbers on transmission, and money collected under the Portfolio Options program. These numbers are then “reconciled” to make sure they match, providing Oregon customers with what we like to call content assurance oversight—that you are getting what you’re paying for.
One important aspect of the Portfolio Options program is that all the renewable energy sources included under its auspices must be “new” renewables, developed since July 1999. This ensures that utilities are actually going above and beyond what standards might already have been in place without this voluntary customer participation. Every kilowatt hour of green energy produced, and—more importantly—purchased, displaces a kilowatt hour of brown energy. The Portfolio Options program creates new demand for clean energy, and that demand sparks new production. All of which serves to keep Oregon moving in the right direction for a clean and sustainable energy future.
The Portfolio Options program was mandated by SB 1149, which CUB helped to write and to pass in the Oregon Legislature. We are proud of our work catalyzing and shaping this renewable energy program, and glad that 4.7% of eligible customers are participating in the program. Let’s make that number even higher. If you are not already buying green power, go to Pacific Power or to the PGE website to sign up now.
And don’t forget to pass this email along to your friends. They might be happy to know how easy and important it is to add their own household’s momentum to the green energy evolution.
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03/10/17 | 0 Comments | Oregon Leads the Way in Voluntary Support for Renewables