Utilities Embrace Sustainable Power to Meet Customer Demand

For those people concerned with the environment and looking for ways to mitigate their emissions, switching to a power utility with a portfolio of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal is one of the easiest ways to make a difference for the planet.

One of the latest utilities to announce this option to customers is ENCOA (Energy Company of America). The company recently announced that it is offering Pennsylvania customers in PECO and PPL 100% wind-generated renewable energy that besides helping the planet will also lower the cost of their electricity bill.

ENCOA is catering for the increasing customer demand for clean, alternative energy that does not rely on fossil fuels and consequently reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

The company said it can negotiate prices and purchase electricity in the market, passing on those savings to its customers. In order to do the switching, all a customer needs to do is to express their wish to do so to the company and provide it with their account number.

Last year, Pacific Gas and Electric topped the annual solar ranking with 157 MW in new installed solar power in 2010. Florida Power and Light came second with 87 MW, which came mainly from two utility-owned projects, a 10-MW PV project at the Kennedy Space Center and a 75-MW hybrid concentrated solar power plant at a combined-cycle natural gas plant. Public Service Electric and Gas came third with a 75 MW portfolio, 30 percent of which was utility-owned and 70 percent was customer rooftop-type projects.

Last year Con Edison made it to the top of Newsweek's 2011 Green Rankings as the greenest utility in the country. The ranking is based on the on the magazine's ratings of a company's environmental impact, environmental management and disclosure. Newsweek developed a "Green Score" for each of the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the United States, and Con Edison scored highest among the 30 utilities rated. Besides the Newsweek ranking, the Carbon Disclosure Project placed Con Edison at the top of the utilities list in the S&P 500 Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index. Con Edison also was the only utility listed in the S&P 500 Carbon Performance Leadership Index.

Image credit: ENCOA