<
News |
ENERGY
CO-OP OFFERS CUSTOMERS OPTION
Published on February 12, 2003
Author: DAVID ROBINSON - News Business
Reporter
© The Buffalo News Inc.
The Energy
Cooperative of New York is going green.
The not-for-profit Buffalo energy services firm is offering
its customers the option of buying an environmentally-friendly
mix of electricity generated from wind and biomass sources.
Like all so-called "green power" programs,
consumers can expect to pay slightly more for electricity
generated from pollution-reducing sources. The energy
co-op estimates that a typical residential customer
will pay between 5 cents and 15 cents a day extra for
green power.
The co-op, with financial help from the New York State
Energy Research and Development Authority, is the first
energy services company in the Niagara Mohawk service
territory to offer a green power option to its customers.
"We're the only one combining the cost advantages
of deregulations with the environmental advantages of
renewable energy," said Derek Bateman, a co-op
spokesman. "The result is by far the most cost
effective renewable program being offered in the Niagara
Mohawk territory."
The co-op estimates that the additional cost of the
green power, which runs about 1.1 cents per kilowatt
hour extra, will add about $3.10 to a typical monthly
bill of a customer using 600 kilowatts of power each
month, compared with conventional utility service.
Niagara Mohawk customers also have a choice of three
green power options that will add an estimated $6.50
to $7.50 to the typical monthly bill of a residential
customer using 500 kilowatts of electricity.
The co-op's green power program will get 80 percent
of its power from biomass generators, which use landfill
gas to generate electricity, and the remaining 20 percent
from wind power.
The idea behind green power programs is to stimulate
the demand for renewable energy sources, which state
regulators hope will encourage the development of additional
wind, solar and hydroelectric power plants in New York.
Those renewable energy power plants, however, often
can not compete on price with conventional methods of
generating electricity, including power plants powered
by coal, natural gas or nuclear energy. As a result,
green power programs are being marketed as a way for
consumers to pay a little extra to help the environment
by reducing the demand for the more polluting sources
of electricity.
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