|
PORTLAND, Ore., Mar 16, 2006 -- BUSINESS WIRE
Portland General Electric (PGE) is selling more renewable power to residential customers than any other utility in the country. When the figures are broken out for residential use alone, the largest and most active part of the market, PGE customers are at the top. "In addition to PGE's high rankings overall, the company is number one in the United States for renewable power sales to residential customers," said Lori Bird, senior energy analyst at NREL. "We feel particularly grateful to our residential customers for their dedication to clean renewable power, and its positive environmental impact," said Thor Hinckley, PGE's renewable program manager. "The vast majority of electricity customers are residential, so these numbers say lots about Oregonians' commitment to green power." Those household accounts purchased 278,801,744 kilowatt hours of renewable power in 2005.(a) The official 2005 NREL rankings of all customers, residential and commercial, put PGE in three of the top 10 categories: No. 2 for sales volume, third year in a row. PGE renewable sales volume for 2005 hit 339,577,170 kilowatt-hours, a 30 percent increase over 2004's figure. No. 3 for customer participation, third year in a row. At the end of 2005, a total of 40,579 PGE residential and commercial customers participated in one of the company's three renewable power options, a 21 percent increase over the year, and an eight-fold increase since 2001. No. 6 for customer participation rate, up from eight last year. PGE had signed up 5.3 percent of its customer base by the end of 2005, compared to 4.3 percent at the end of 2004. A 5 percent participation rate is viewed as a "ceiling" -- only five other utilities in the nation have reached this important milestone. NREL Rankings are based on raw numbers and are not adjusted for the size of the utility. The full report can be accessed at www.nrel.gov. PGE offers information on its renewable products at www.PortlandGeneral.com/renewable. Choices include: Green Mountain Energy Company, one of the nation's leading providers of cleaner electricity products, has worked with PGE since 2001 as co-marketer and renewable power supplier for the retail program. PGE's leadership in renewable power dates back to the 1990s when the company agreed to purchase the entire output of Oregon's first major wind farm. In 1999, PGE was one of the first utilities to offer a renewable power product to customers and later became the first utility in the nation to include a fish habitat option. In December of 2005, PGE began purchasing the entire output of the new Klondike II wind farm in Oregon. PGE, headquartered in Portland, is a fully integrated electric utility that serves more than 775,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in northwest Oregon. Visit PGE on the Web at PortlandGeneral.com. (a) Customers will not have electricity from a specific renewable generation facility delivered directly to their homes or businesses, but are purchasing renewable power to be delivered in their region. SOURCE: Portland General Electric News Provided By |
