GreenChoice #1 in Nation--Again

 

April 10, 2007

For the fifth year in a row, the Austin Energy GreenChoice® program was the #1 utility sponsored green power program in America for sales. Rankings are compiled annually by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a division of the Department of Energy (DOE).

In 2006, GreenChoice®sales topped 580 million kilowatt-hours (kWh)--100-million kWh more than second place Portland General Electric and 280 million kWh more than third place Florida Power & Light, both of which serve far more customers. The success of the Austin Energy program centers on a feature whereby GreenChoice subscribers receive a green power cost that stays fixed for up to 10-years.

 

“We sign a 10-year contract for the annual output of a certain number of wind-turbines and pass that decade-long fixed cost on to our customers as a hedge against increasingly volatile fossil fuel prices,” says Michael McCluskey, Senior Vice-President for Wholesale and Retail Markets. “We do this by replacing the fuel charge on the bill of a GreenChoice subscriber with a “green power charge” that is reflective of the wind contract costs. This means that unless Austin Energy base electric rates increase, which has not occurred since 1994, the customer knows exactly what they will be paying for power for 10 years.”

 

That has been especially appealing to businesses, even though at the time of their subscriptions, the green power charge has generally been a little bit higher than the fuel charge paid by non-subscribers. Even so, there are more 100% green-powered businesses (350) in Austin than any city in the country. Meanwhile, the escalating price of natural gas and more recently coal delivery costs have required fuel charge increases.

 

“In January 2006, it was necessary to raise our fuel charge and for the first time the fuel charge was higher than the prevailing green power charge,” said Carol Harwell, GreenChoice Program Manager. “Because our GreenChoice program was almost sold out, we held a drawing to award the remaining power because naturally more customers wanted to join the program at that point.”

 

GreenChoice is built on 100% green power which means for every kWh of sales, a kWh of green power is brought into the Austin Energy system. Austin Energy has set a goal that 30% of the power it sells will be from renewable resources by 2020. Currently the figure is at 6%.

 

The GreenChoice Program is fueled primarily by wind-generated power, with Austin Energy receiving the annual output from 212 MW of wind turbines. The Austin City Council recently voted to double the amount of wind capacity under contract. However, additional wind capacity is very limited at this time. Austin Energy will begin receiving energy from an additional 60 MW of new wind capacity by the end of 2007.

 

Austin Energy is the 10th largest public power utility in the country with 380,000 customers and serving a population of 880,000 in Austin, Texas and the Travis County. The utility provides low cost, reliable power and is nationally recognized for some of the most advanced and comprehensive energy efficiency and Green Building programs in the nation. Under a recently announced “Climate Protection Plan” by the City of Austin, Austin Energy will offset by 2020, the need for a 700 MW power plant through energy efficiency and load shifting initiatives, among other measures.