Appalachian Power Company’s proposal to offer a special green-power tariff (which I covered here) has run into heavy resistance from environmentalists on the grounds that (1) it would be expensive and (2) it would prohibit competition in Apco’s service territory. Jim Pieroban explores the controversy in Southeast Energy News.
The proposed tariff, Apco spokesman John Shepelwich told Pierobon, “responds to consumer and industrial demand/requests for 100% renewable energy generation. The goal … is “to provide customers with easy access to cost-effective renewable energy with low transaction costs and a fixed energy component that provides price certainty and avoids fuel price volatility, without impacting other ratepayers.”
Critics say that Apco is overpricing the renewable energy, which will be supplied mainly by wind farms in Illinois, Indiana and West Virginia. The average cost of wind nationally is about $20.75 per megawatt hour, and Apco likely could purchase it for less than that. But Apco’s tariff would average $72 per megawatt hour because it would include projects brought online between 2001 and 201o when the cost was much higher.
As Pierobon notes, third-party sales of electricity are generating increasing interest in Virginia and throughout the Southeast. The regional chapter of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) contends that Apco’s proposed tariff would effectively remove solar supplied by third parties as an option for ratepayers. Said Dana Sleeper with the Maryland-DC-Virginia chapter: “Ironically, [approval] could result in fewer options for customers to purchase renewable energy and support renewable energy development in Virginia.”
