PGE Renewable Energy

I've done some research for myself and anybody who is a Portland General Electric customer and hasn't yet signed up for one of their renewable energy options. There are two renewable power options that you can enroll in as a residential customer. One is Green Source, whereby PGE guarantees that the amount of the electricity you use in your home will be replaced in the Northwest power grid by wind, geothermal, or biomass produced energy. This option costs an additional $.012 per kilowatt hour (kWh) on top of your existing energy bill. Last year the renewable energy supply mix for the Green Source option was approximately 85% wind and 15% biomass power. The New Wind option costs $3.50 per 200 kWh unit which breaks down to $.0175 per kWh. The New Wind energy supply mix is comprised of %100 wind power. In addition to paying for wind energy, the New Wind power option funds additional wind power construction in Oregon, and so the idea would be that you're buying into additional renewable energy for the state. When thinking about what option would be best for me I took my last months energy bill ($46.73), calculated the additional cost for the number of kWh I used (408 kWh), which was $4.89 for Green Source and about $7.00 for New Wind. That is an increase of 10.48% and 14.98% respectively. Based on this, I feel like the best option for me would be the Green Source option because I would like to support PGE renewable energy generation through my purchase, but I don't necessarily feel the need to personally fund their wind farm construction projects. Tonight I am switching my energy plan to Green Source and may someday move to New Wind because it is likely very beneficial to Oregon's environment and economy. I encourage other PGE to look into the costs and benefits of changing to a renewable energy plan. At www.portlandgeneral.com they even have a cost calculate that shows you how many trees you'll save. Making this switch can be an important step in moving towards a sustainable fuel balance in your life!

-Damen King