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Moorhead Public Service's Capture the Wind program is among the country's most successful.

NREL awards for green power plans:
Programs give consumers clean choices

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., recently released an updated list of leading utility "green pricing" programs. Among those cited by NREL were Western customers Moorhead Public Service, Los Angeles Power and Water District, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, and Holy Cross Energy.

Green pricing is a special electricity rate option that offers consumers a chance to help support electricity generated from renewable resources, such as solar and wind. More than 90 utilities in 31 states now offer these programs. Customers basically pay a surcharge to offset the higher production cost of some renewable energy sources.

Ranked by the amount of new energy produced, the green pricing program of Austin (Texas) Energy is first in the nation, followed by Xcel Energy of Colorado, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, and Madison (Wisc.) Gas and Electric.

Ranked by customer participation, Moorhead Public Service, LADWP, Holy Cross Energy (Colo.), and MGE are rated among the top five.

To date, more than 330 megawatts of renewable energy capacity has been installed or is planned as a result of green pricing programs--enough to meet the power needs of nearly 140,000 homes.

Western's first Energy Services teleconference was held Feb. 28 at 2:00 p.m. The subject was the Vending Miser, a new vending machine energy saving device. Participants attended the conference from the comfort of their own offices, without incurring any travel expenses and without wasting valuable time traveling.

Participants simultaneously listened to conference speakers via telephone, and viewed their presentations on a computer screen. Responses showed that customers would like to see more teleconferencing presentations in the future.

If you missed the teleconference, you can still download the workshop materials and presentations from Western's Energy Services Web site at www.wapa.gov/es.

For more information, call your Energy Services Representative.

Web Sites National Renewable Energy Laboratory: www.eren.doe.gov/greenpower/topten.shtml Los Angeles Department of Water and Power: www.ladwp.com/home.htm Sacramento Municipal Utility District: www.smud.org/rebatespromos.htm;#promotions For more information, call Lori Bird, 303-384-7411, or Blair Swezey, 303-384-7455. Both are at NREL.