Appalachian Power Company’s New Green Pricing Option Program

     American Electric Power’s (“AEP”) subsidiary, Appalachian Power (“Appalachian”), began its green energy offering to customers in West Virginia two weeks ago. Green energy is electricity generated by renewable energy sources such as the sun, wind, water and organic matter. The resources are replenished by nature and are a cleaner source of energy. In West Virginia, customers have the opportunity to purchase "blocks" of green energy, which will be acquired from these sources. Each block is equivalent to 100 kilowatt-hours of renewable electricity.

     For a customer to purchase green energy, they must participate in the green pricing option. This is a program that allows Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power customers, on a voluntary basis, to support the development of renewable energy resources. The Green Pricing Option offers customers an opportunity to make an environmental difference by supporting the company's purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). A REC represents the environmental attributes that are created when electricity is generated using renewable resources instead of using fossil fuel sources such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Customers will essentially purchase RECs from the company and retire them from future use. By purchasing these Renewable Energy Certificates, a customer encourages and helps sustain renewable power.

     Residential customers may elect to purchase a minimum of 2 blocks and up to a maximum of 50 blocks at a cost of $1.50 for each block. For example, if a customer purchases two blocks of green energy, that customer's bill would increase by $3.00 each month. The typical residential customer uses an average of 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month so purchasing 10 blocks of green energy would match that usage. Each green energy block will add $1.50 to a customer’s bill each month, as long as that customer participates in the program. The cost to purchase green energy blocks is in addition to a customer’s regular monthly electric bill, and will be reflected as a separate line item on the bill.

      In order to supply green energy to West Virginia customers, Appalachian has contracted for 75 megawatts of energy from the Camp Grove Wind Farm in central Illinois and 100 megawatts from the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm in western Indiana. Appalachian already purchases power from Summersville Hydro in West Virginia, and has plans to buy from the Beech Ridge Wind Energy project in Greenbrier County when it is finished.

      This article was authored by Donnie L. Adkins, Jackson Kelly PLLC. For more information on the author see here.