Choose Renewable Energy for Your Home or Business.
Renville-Sibley is offering a program to allow members to power their homes or businesses with up to 100% renewable energy.
You can easily purchase renewable energy from your local electric cooperative, Renville-Sibley Cooperative Power Association. The electricity you receive will still be the same reliable, affordable energy you have always received from Renville-Sibley.
Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) also referred to as “green tags” represent the valuable renewable attributes of energy which come from regional wind or solar farms. For each 1,000 kilowatt-hours of energy that a renewable source such as a wind turbine or a solar panel produces, one REC is produced. The REC is how the use of renewable energy is tracked as a commodity in the marketplace. In order to declare that energy as renewable energy, a REC must be retired. Each year, Basin Electric generates a number of RECs from their wind projects in North and South Dakota. After retiring the RECs to meet state mandates, the leftover RECs are allocated to Basin Electric’s local electric cooperatives like Renville-Sibley. In the past, we have put these RECs back up for sale on the market and entities interested in using green energy purchased them.
Instead of selling all of the Renville-Sibley allocated RECs to some unknown entity, we thought we would give local members the first opportunity to purchase them. This program is ideal for individuals who desire green energy and want a certifiable way to know they are consuming renewable energy. Another use may come from a farm or business that would be able to sell their product for a premium if certifiably produced by a renewable energy source. With this program, we are providing a service for those who have a strong desire to use renewable energy, but may not have the opportunity or desire to put in their own renewable resource.
To be clear, by electing to participate in this program, you will be paying slightly more for each kilowatt-hour consumed. How would that impact your bill? Renville-Sibley allows members to purchase RECs at four different levels. If you used 1,200 kWh a month, this is how the additional charge would impact your monthly bill:
100% Renewable: $1.20 ($0.001 / kWh)
75% Renewable: $0.90 ($0.00075 / kWh)
50% Renewable: $0.60 ($0.00050 / kWh)
25% Renewable: $0.30 ($0.00025 / kWh)
The Renville-Sibley REC program does not require any special equipment and is billed monthly based on your kWh usage and the participation level selected.
If you would like to “green-up” your electricity, please complete the certificate purchase form and return to our office. Please give us a call at 1-800-826-2593 if you would like more information—we can help!