PECO Energy President Denis O’Brien and DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty announced this week an agreement to purchase 2,582 megawatt-hours (MWh) of wind power per year for three years.This purchase ensures that wind power supplies 10 percent of the energy needs for the company’s headquarters in Philadelphia.

PECO also honored Nick DeBenedictis, CEO of Aqua America, and James Hagan, vice president of Environmental Health, and Safety of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for their dedication to the environment and purchase of PECO WIND, PECO’s environmentally friendly wind power option.

Both companies recently purchased wind power generation, with Aqua America powering 100 percent of their headquarters and two other administrative buildings with wind power, and GSK powering 10 percent of their headquarters with wind power.

Combined, these three purchases alone have the same environmental benefit as planting 430,000 trees or not driving 5.5 million miles.

The company’s headquarters uses 2,150,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month. The building houses more than 1,000 employees who support PECO’s customer care, transmission system operations, and other utility support functions as well as executive offices.

Also on hand for the celebration was Patty Klenk of Blue Bell, Montgomery County. Klenk was honored as the 11,000th residential customer to support wind energy and select PECO WIND.

The environmental benefit of the more than 11,000 customers choosing PECO WIND is the same as planting about 2.2 million trees or not driving 28 million miles. Specifically, there are about 3,000 PECO WIND customers in Philadelphia, 1,700 customers in Bucks, 2,000 customers in Chester, 2,300 customers in Delaware, 2,200 customers in Montgomery, and a handful of customers in York counties.

Launched in May 2004, PECO WIND is among the largest and fastest growing green power programs in the country, as noted by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). It is supplied by leading wind energy marketer, Community Energy, Inc.

The first wind energy product offered by a utility in Pennsylvania, PECO WIND is available to residential and business customers in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Philadelphia and York counties. It is supplied by a new, state-of-the-art wind power facility in Waymart, Pennsylvania near the Poconos.

For more information or to sign up, customers can call 1-866-WIND-321, or the PECO Wind webpage.

4/15/2005