How to Purchase Green Electricity
Options for Purchasing Green Electricity
How to Choose among Green Electricity Offerings
Options for Purchasing Green Electricity
Depending upon where you live, you have different options for purchasing green electricity.
Purchasing Green Electricity through Your Regular Electricity Bill
This is the easiest way to purchase green electricity, but it is not available in all parts of the state. Utilities across New England are beginning to offer their consumers the opportunity to purchase green electricity through programs developed by the utility. Each program is unique and only available to customers within the utility’s service area.GreenUp is the largest such program in Massachusetts. It is offered in the service territories of Massachusetts Electric and Nantucket Electric, which are part of the National Grid group. GreenUp customers choose to purchase renewable energy certificates from 
one of four green electricity providers. The types and percentages of clean energy sources vary among these providers. The customers retain Massachusetts Electric or Nantucket Electric as their energy supplier and that company continues to issue their bill and provide customer service. The extra cost of purchasing renewable energy is included in their regular monthly utility bill. For a typical household, the cost will likely be between $4 and $13 per month, depending upon the green electricity choice selected. Learn more about the GreenUp program and the GreenUp Providers.
Municipal Utilities. Approximately 40 communities in Massachusetts have their electric needs served by their own town or city’s electric utility. Some of these muncipal utilities are considering or have already implemented various forms of renewable energy into the mix of electricity provided to their customers. In the case of the Concord Municipal Light Plant, customers can choose to purchase some of their electricity from a nearby low-impact hydroelectric facility.
Freestanding Renewable Energy Certificates
If your local utility does not offer you the option to purchase green electricity, you can still support renewable energy through your purchases. You can purchase renewable energy certificates through programs and companies that sell them to individual consumers, regardless of where you reside. For a comprehensive national listing of your options for purchasing renewable energy certificates, check out the US Department of Energy’s Green Power Network website.
How to Choose among Green Electricity Offerings
Only you can decide whether you can afford to or want to support green electricity. But if you decide you want to do this, here are some general principles you may wish to use when choosing among the offerings available to you:• Give special attention to the quantity of “new” renewables in the offering. Certificates or electricity from new renewable energy facilities are more likely to increase the amount of the state’s renewably generated electricity than certificates or electricity from “old” facilities.
• Evaluate the electricity supplier. Not only will your money be going to the renewable energy generating facilities, but some of it will go to the company or organization that sells you the offering. Is it a reputable, reliable company? What is its strategy for developing renewable energy? Is it a company you want to support?
• Consider which sources of energy you most want to support. If you are especially interested in seeing greater use of wind energy, look for an offering that include certificates from wind-powered electricity generators. Similarly, if you are partial to solar energy, landfill gas, or some other renewable energy source, search out an offering that includes it.