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Held May 10-11, 1999 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Fourth National Green Power Marketing Conference was organized to examine the current state of green-power marketing and to explore opportunities to improve on the success of green-power sales in both regulated and deregulated markets. The conference was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Electric Power Research Institute, Renewable Energy Alliance, and Edison Electric Institute.
View all of the Conference Presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint 95 (PPT) or Adobe Acrobat PDF format. Format is noted with file sizes.
REPORT SUMMARY
Today, in regulated monopoly markets, more than 50 utilities offer "green pricing" to their
customers, but competitive green power marketing is still in early evolution. After a year of
competitive market activity, it has become clear that the rules and mechanisms established for
electric industry restructuring are critical to the success of green power marketing. The Fourth
National Green Power Conference examined the current state of green power marketing,
identified key market and policy needs under electric industry restructuring, and explored
opportunities to improve on the success of green power sales in both regulated and deregulated
markets.
Background
Green power is a market-driven product developed to meet expressed customer preference for
electricity derived from renewable sources such as solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal power.
Studies consistently show that energy consumers, when informed, will consider more than price
in making purchasing decisions. This conference, as the previous three (documented in EPRI
reports TR-106986, TR-109179, and TR-112315), explored what needs to be done to reach these
consumers.
Objective
To provide insights on marketing green power resources in a competitive arena.
Approach
The U.S. Department of Energy, EPRI, the Edison Electric Institute, and the Renewable Energy
Alliance, with additional support from Green Mountain Energy and PG&E Corporation,
organized the Fourth National Green Power Conference, held May 10-11, 1999, in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
Key Points
Some key messages that emerged from the conference are the following:
- Green power markets will be most successful where concerted efforts are made by industry
stakeholders to address market issues. Among the issues most often mentioned were
competitive market rules, consumer education, information disclosure, environmental
regulations, and public policy support.
- Market rules are critical to the success of green power in competitive markets and the
threshold market requirement is price competition. As of May 1999, nearly 400,000
customers had switched suppliers in Pennsylvania and it is estimated that as many as onethird
of switching customers had chosen green power since it became available in the market.
In contrast, much less switching activity had occurred in California, Massachusetts, and
Rhode Island. Several speakers indicated that the difference can be attributed to the lack of
price competition in the latter states.
- Consumer education is a key driver of green power sales in both competitive and regulated
markets. Education is also necessary for consumers to become aware of the environmental
attributes of competing power products.
- Successful green power markets can breed support for public policies by demonstrating that
consumers do care about environmental issues.
- Aggregation of customer loads including established energy cooperatives, municipalities,
communities of faith, and businesses with preexisting environmental or social interests can
build markets for green power.
EPRI Perspective
As the number of regulated utility green-pricing programs continues to grow and competitive
marketing strategies mature, it is increasingly clear that customer preference for renewable
sources of electricity will indeed be a major factor in the new energy marketplace—"green
power" is here to stay. The overall tenor of the conference participants was one of optimism
toward the longer-term potential of green power markets. The positive experience with
Pennsylvania's restructured market, as compared to that of other states where retail competition
has started more slowly, was generally perceived to be indicative of what competitive forces,
combined with appropriate policies, could achieve in other states as additional electricity markets
are opened.
TR-114878
Keywords
Renewable resources
Marketing
Hydroelectric power
Wind power
Biomass fuels
Solar power plants
Copyright © 2000 Electric Power Research Institute. TR-114878.
Fourth National Green Power Marketing Conference:
Key Ingredients for Successful Markets, Reprinted with Permission.
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