NSTAR going green<br> with wind-power option

BOSTON – NSTAR Electric yesterday announced a new program for customers who wish to support renewable energy and reduce their impact on the environment. NSTAR Green will allow customers to purchase half or all their electric supply directly from wind farms in the Northeast.
Pending approval by the Mass. Department of Public Utilities, NSTAR expects to begin enrolling customers this fall and launch the new service in January.
“Now more than ever, our customers are looking for ways to meet their energy needs in a sustainable way that has minimal impact on the environment,” said Thomas J. May, NSTAR’s chairman, president and CEO. “We wanted to offer a green rate that not only gives customers a choice but also helps stimulate renewable energy development.”
The program is the result of a collaborative effort by NSTAR, Mass. Attorney General Martha Coackley, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Conservation Law Foundation and Environment Massachusetts, the company said.
“This program gives customers the choice of paying a little more to get electricity generated with zero air pollution or global warming impacts, and will reduce the cost of supplying renewable energy to all customers,” said Alan Nogee, director of the Clean Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Customers who enroll in NSTAR Green will pay slightly more than the Basic Service rate. The premium will be 1.75 cents per kilowatt hour to get half their electricity from wind energy, or 3 cents/kWh for the wind-power only option, the company said.
To provide power for the program, NSTAR has signed two 10-year contracts: one with PPM Energy, for 30 megawatts of “clean” electricity from Maple Ridge Wind Farm in upstate New York, and the other with TransCanada Corp., for 30 megawatts from the Kibby Wind Power Project now being developed in Maine.
“The long-term commitments at the heart of this initiative are key catalysts to bringing renewable energy online in New England,” said CLF President Phil Warburg. “This is an important step forward in the battle against climate change.”
NSTAR (NYSE: NST), based in Boston, is a natural gas and electric utility serving 1.4 million customers in New Bedford, Dartmouth, Fairhaven and other portions of eastern and central Massachusetts. Additional information is available at www.nstar.com.