Here’s an interesting exclusive in the Bend Bulletin. After spending about $100 million to restore salmon and steelhead runs at Lake Billy Chinook, the project by PGE and local Tribes is falling apart. The main feature is a giant fish tower that was designed to collect fish from the lake and move them into trucks so they could be carried over a series of dams. The ironic part? It was supposed to go online today.
Portland General Electric says it’s the #1 utility in the country for how much renewable energy it sells to residential customers.
PGE says it sold almost 530 million kilowatt hours of renewable power to residential customers in 2008, an 18% increase over 2007. According to Department of Energy statistics, that’s more than any other utility in the nation. PGE has held this top spot for four years running.
Here’s another milestone. The number of renewable energy customers, both residential and commercial, is closing in on 70,000. That’s up 12% from 2007 and puts PGE in the #2 spot on that list. Percentage wise, 9.7% of PGE customers are buying renewable power. That’s also up from 2007 and the 4th highest participation rate in the nation.
PGE and PacificCorp offer customers a renewable energy option. These programs can raise your bills, how much depends on how much renewable power you buy.
