St. Louis-based AmerenUE has announced that its Pure Power program offers residential customers the option of purchasing 1,000 kWh blocks of power for $15 per block rather than paying an additional $0.015 per kWh for 100% of the electricity used each month.
Pure Power funds go toward the purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs) from recently constructed regional wind and other renewable generators. One REC equals the generation of 1,000 kWh of power by a regional wind farm or other renewable energy source.
Previously, customers enrolled in Pure Power could only participate by paying on a per-kWh basis. A tariff recently approved by the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) makes it possible to buy $15 blocks, which was an option originally reserved for large industrial users of electricity.
‘We filed this tariff as a request to the PSC to give our residential customers more flexibility in controlling how much they pay for Pure Power each month,’ says Richard Mark, AmerenUE senior vice president for Missouri energy delivery.
According to the terms of the tariff, any customer already signed up with the program can switch to the block option, and new customers can choose either the original pricing method or the block option.
According to AmerenUE, at least half of the Pure Power demand is being met by new renewable generators located within Missouri and Illinois. Seventy-five percent or more of customer demand will support wind farms, with the balance supporting other forms of renewable generation.
SOURCE: AmerenUE
