ST. LOUIS, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has named UE's Pure Power™ program the "most successful" New Green Power Program of the year, company officials report. DOE along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Center for Resource Solutions are honoring 25 leading corporations, renewable energy suppliers and industry pioneers this week.
Citing Pure Power as the largest green-pricing programs in the Midwest with its nearly 4,000 customers, the DOE recognized the renewable energy offering both for "quantitative criteria, such as customer participation and green power sales, and qualitative criteria, such as overall value provided to customers," according to the DOE announcement released today.
The DOE presented the award Oct. 27 to UE at the annual Green Power Leadership Awards ceremony, held in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference in Denver, Colorado.
UE is one of four companies recognized for their "commitment to programs that allow consumers to purchase clean green energy options, while also integrating sustainable energy strategies that make good business sense," according to today's DOE release.
Pure Power is the company's Green-e® Certified voluntary renewable energy program. Pure Power residential customers volunteer to pay an additional 1.5 cents/kilowatthour on their monthly bills. These funds are then used to purchase and retire renewable energy credits (RECs) from regional wind farms, biomass resources and other green, renewable energy sources.
Residential customers can also purchase "blocks" of RECs for $15 each. Each block represents 1,000 kilowatthours of power from renewable sources. Large commercial and industrial customers participate by purchasing blocks only.
To date, using a grassroots approach coordinated by 3Degrees Energy, UE has purchased RECs equal to 37,000 megawatthours of renewable energy. The company projects demand will exceed 50,000 megawatthours by the end of the year. More than 4,000 residential customers are currently enrolled in Pure Power, with large commercial and industrial companies including high-profile customers like Monsanto, smaller commercial/industrial companies like Schlafly Brewing Co. and even entire communities like St. Louis City, the City of Clayton and the western Missouri town of Plattsburg.
"It is very gratifying whenever UE is recognized nationally for its leadership, but it is especially gratifying to receive an award recognizing Pure Power," says UE President and CEO Tom Voss. "We knew going in that a lot of face-to-face communication would be needed to help customers understand our REC-based program. I am very pleased to see the efforts of UE employees and 3Degrees paying off in Pure Power's continued growth."
With residential electric retail rates that are more than 40 percent below the national average, UE provides electricity and natural gas to 1.2 million customers in Missouri. UE's parent, Ameren Corporation, through its affiliates, serves 2.4 million electric and nearly 1 million natural gas customers across 64,000 square miles of Missouri and Illinois.
SOURCE: AmerenUE
CONTACT: Tim Fox of AmerenUE, +1-314-554-3120
Web site: http://www.ameren.com/