Members of Mountain View Electric Association and the other electric cooperatives in Colorado can choose to support the development of renewable energy by buying blocks of Green Power.
Since 1998, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, has offered its member co-ops the option of selling Green Power to their member-owners. Mountain View Electric, headquartered in Limon and serving the areas east and north of Colorado Springs, has offered this option to its members since 2000, allowing members who want to the opportunity to help off-set the use of fossil fuel generated power.
As the cost of research and development for renewable energy has gone down, so has the cost for buying the green tags that support the program. MVEA started offering green power at a cost of $2.50 per 100 kWh block. Today, the cost has dropped to only 20¢ per 100 kWh block in addition to the regular bill for kWh usage. The co-op does require a one-year commitment from those buying Green Power.
Currently Mountain View Electric has 408 members buying 1,193 100-kWh blocks each month. In addition, Schriever Air Force Base purchases 1,500 100-kWh blocks each month.
Buying Green Power does not mean that electricity generated with renewable resource is actually delivered to your home or business. When you purchase Green Power, you are paying the costs to have electricity generated with renewable resources delivered to the electric grid. You still get the electricity you need from whatever resources are available at the time you need the electricity and you also get the benefit of having more electricity from wind or other clean energy source on the wires.
Another way to explain this is to say that Mountain View Electric and the Colorado’s other electric co-ops buy the electricity "bundled" with the green attributes that add value to the electricity. Through the Green Power program there are more of these green attributes added to the bundle.
More support for Green Power through the electric co-ops’ program, mean more Green Power on the grid for all of us.