Green Energy -- Do Electric Utilities get a Grade of F in Trust?

The N.Y. Times has an article today on "Green Energy" efforts of Electric Utilities -- specifically the very low participation rates on voluntary programs offered by electric utilities.

The article cites that an extremely high percentage of proceeds coming from electricity customers is going to administrative and marketing/advertising expenses rather than capital investments of new renewable energy resources.

An example was cited of the Florida Power & Light program where ~75% of customer payments for green energy was going to administrative and marketing/advertisement efforts.

Blog Readers can also go to a previous blog we posted on green energy marketing.

Green Energy Marketing

Only about 1% of U.S. electricity customers purchase Green Energy through voluntary programs (like Green-e). Most Advocates of Green Energy state that this extremely low participation rate is simply a matter of needing "better consumer education" through marketing. But is this correct? Marketing Research conducted by Roper & Associates indicates that the high price premium (about 25% above the cost of electricity produced from fossil fuels) explains the very low customer participation rates -- especially in the Southern U.S. Click here to go to story and then Blog us with your thoughts.