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On March 6, the Palo Alto (CA) City Council unanimously approved a program through which the City of Palo Alto Utilities will offer residents a green power purchase option. The program will be formally announced in April on Earth Day.
The city will offer three green power options—customers can receive 25%, 50%, or 100% of their electricity from "future" green resources with the remainder of the product supplied with "existing" green resources. Resources used to supply the program may include small hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, and landfill gas. The price premiums will range from 1.2¢/kWh for the 25% future renewables product to 2.0¢/kWh for the 50% product and 3.4¢/kWh for the 100% product. City staff propose to use public benefits funds to lower the price of each product by 0.4¢/kWh. An average residential customer choosing the 100% option would pay about $15.00 more per month.
The city's market research found that about 50% of customers surveyed "would like to buy more green energy from Palo Alto." City staff expect that actual program participation will be between 2% and 4% of the residential and small commercial customer base in the first year and reach 5% within five years.
News Article - Making it easy to be green
Palo Alto Utilities Contact: Tom Kabat (650) 329-2659
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