Could Fuel Price Stability Be Provided with REC-just Purchases?
A more prominent number of utilities are providing their green evaluating programs with RECs unbundled from their basic power. In case RECs are utilized to supply the program, can the proper value advantages of the renewable energy sources be given as buyers? If REC costs are extra to petroleum product terminated age costs, do the renewables pass on a proper value advantage? On the other hand, are those advantages held by the undertaking proprietor or gone to the buyer of the fundamental energy from the renewable energy office. It is feasible to structure a support item with RECs, yet it is a more intricate recommendation than if the renewable power were sold packaged with the RECs.
One model was presented by Green Mountain Power-GMP in Vermont, a REC-based green power item that gave a fence to clients. Rather than paying the energy charge of the basic Electricity rates , 29 clients addressed the five-year fixed cost dependent on the organization’s extended normal expense of age just as the five-year market cost for NEPOOL Generation Information System-gave RECs (short buys from qualifying renewable energy sources). This energy cost stayed fixed for a very long time and was not changed dependent on rate cases going ahead. Notwithstanding the fixed-value energy charge, clients paid for any remaining pertinent charges (e.g., organization, transmission, and dissemination). Curiously, in case RECs were not accessible from the spot market at not exactly or equivalent to 5.25¢/kWh, then, at that point, the accessible RECs were applied acerate to taking interest clients and the green power rate would be decreased.
The GMP program had a high premium (at first more than 4¢/kWh over the ordinary utility rate) because REC costs in New England have been very high and the program secured REC on the spot market. The test with offering a high rate is that on the off chance that it doesn’t appear to be possible that the regular traditional rate will go over the fixed-cost of the green power item, there may not be a lot of monetary advantage to the shoppers taking an interest in the program. GMP as of late redid the program and moved away from the fixed-value structure because there was shopper disarray over the fixed-value viewpoint, it was officially complicated (as clients who took on various years had various rates), and a portion of the utility rates (i.e., the proper month-to-month charge alternative) was not viable with the previous program structure, adequately blocking a few clients from taking an interest. Moreover, GMP chose to focus on marking long-haul contracts with Vermont-based renewable ventures as opposed to buying New England-wide RECs from the spot market. The new Greener GMP program permits clients to pursue a REC-based item sourced from Vermont-based RECs with a value premium of 4¢/kWh (private, business, or mechanical), where the cost is liable to change over the long run.
Portland General Electric — Green power
Portland General Electric (PGE) likewise had a green power pilot item called Renewable Future, which was offered to start in January 2007. It gave taking an interesting private and little non-private clients with a REC-based item that offered fixed-value support against non-renewable energy sources and electricity value unpredictability. Until now, a couple of utilities have organized REC-based support items with blended achievement.
