Oct 11 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Wendy Tanaka The Philadelphia Inquirer

Green Mountain Energy Co., which sells environmentally friendly electricity, will stop providing service in Peco Energy Co.'s territory and throughout Pennsylvania next month.

The Austin, Texas, company, which markets electricity generated primarily from wind, water, sunlight and biomass, blamed rising natural-gas prices for the move.

It said it would begin notifying its 16,000 residential and 400 business customers in the Peco area next week about the change.

All told, Green Mountain has 30,000 customers in Pennsylvania. It has been providing electricity in the state since 1999.

Green Mountain spokesman Andy Prince said the rising price of natural gas -- which the company uses to produce power for some customers in Texas and Ohio -- made it difficult for it to continue competing here with the rates charged by utilities such as Peco, which are capped under terms of the deregulation of Pennsylvania's electricity market.

To remain viable in Pennsylvania, "we would have had to raise rates to the point of $30 more per month" than Green Mountain currently charges, Prince said. "We didn't feel comfortable doing that."

He said Green Mountain would mail notices to its Peco-area customers, explaining that they could return to Peco or choose another provider within 30 days. Customers who do not choose a new provider will automatically return to Peco.

According to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Web site, there are four other electricity providers in the Peco area: Commerce Energy Inc., Community Energy Inc., Energy Cooperative Association of Pennsylvania, and PowerChoice by Pepco Energy Services.

Although Green Mountain is stopping its full electric service, the company said Peco-area customers could still support renewable energy by purchasing small blocks of "green" electricity from Green Mountain. It will charge $9.95 per month for 500 kilowatts of electricity, and $99.95 annually for 6,000 kilowatts.

Prince said the cost would be charged to customers' credit cards.

Peco also offers a "green" option, called Peco Wind, that allows its customers to pay an extra $2.54 per month for 100-kilowatt blocks of wind power. The wind energy is supplied by Community Energy, one of the state's alternative electricity providers.