PPL Electric Utilities this week filed a proposal with the Public Utility Commission that would give residential and small business customers the opportunity to support the continued development of clean, renewable sources of electricity over an above the renewable energy required by the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards.

The company has asked the PUC to approve a new PPL Electric Green Power program offered in partnership with Community Energy Inc., a leading marketer and developer of renewable energy.

“Customer support for renewable sources of power will help protect the environment, reduce our nation’s dependency on fossil fuels, and help ensure that more wind and other renewable generation projects are built,” said David G. DeCampli, president of PPL Electric Utilities.

“That’s good for the environment today and for future generations that will call eastern and central Pennsylvania home,” he said.

DeCampli said the voluntary PPL Electric Green Power option would enable customers to buy 100 kilowatt-hour blocks of renewable energy credits, which are the result of energy generated by wind and hydroelectric projects.

For each block purchased, $2.50 would be added each month to the customer’s regular PPL Electric Utilities bill. PPL Electric Utilities would not profit from those purchases. Rather, the payment for those credits provides a financial incentive to developers to build more renewable energy projects.

“As part of our e-power initiative, we continue to look for ways we can give our customers more tools and options — options for paying their bills and managing their account, tools for learning how they can save electricity and money, and now choices about supporting environmental initiatives,” DeCampli said.

The PPL Electric Green Power program must be approved by the PUC.

To implement the program and support continued investment in renewable resources, PPL Electric Utilities will buy approximately 500,000 renewable energy credits over four years from Community Energy Inc.

Those credits represent more than 500 million kilowatt-hours of clean energy, which has the same environmental benefit as adding more than 95,000 acres of forest or taking about 67,000 cars off the road for one year, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.

Any of the 500,000 credits left over following customer purchases would be used by PPL Electric Utilities toward Pennsylvania’s alternative energy requirement.

Community Energy Inc. is headquartered in Radnor, Pa., and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of IBERDROLA — one of the largest owners and operators of renewable energy facilities in the world.

CEI developed and jointly owns the Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm and the Bear Creek Wind Farm, and IBERDROLA has wind projects under development in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwestern and Rocky Mountain states.

NewsClip: PPL Seeks to Sell Energy Credits

1/25/2008