Originally published December 14 2005
Virginia company fills the state's gap in green energy alternatives
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Virginia state officials have bemoaned the failures of the state government to promote the transition to green energy, but now Dominion Virginia Power, the state’s largest energy company , provides a green energy alternative through Virginia Energy Choice.
Despite the national hype surrounding renewable energy, only about 1,600 of Virginia's 3.1 million residents use "green" electricity in their homes.
Dominion Virginia Power, the state's largest energy company with roughly 2 million residential customers, offers a green energy alternative through Virginia Energy Choice, part of the state's energy restructuring program that allows customers to buy electricity from competing suppliers.
Dominion reports that only 1,555 of their residential customers have chosen to buy green power, which is generated on wind farms and solar arrays owned by Pepco, but still delivered through Dominion's power lines.
Dominion is the only state energy company offering power generated by a renewable source.
Dominion also reports that only 11 of their residential customers participate in Virginia's net metering program, which allows homes that generate their own power, mostly homes equipped with solar panels, to claim energy credits for surplus power fed back into the electricity grid.
"From a standpoint of cost versus return on what you are going to invest, it just doesn't make any sense.
Solell said there is no demand for residential solar systems because capped electricity prices combined with a lack of state tax incentives makes using renewable energy impractical for customers.
Although a few Virginia counties offer some nominal incentives for using renewable energy, there are no statewide incentives.
Alden Hathaway is the director of the Eco Power program at the Environmental Resources Trust, a nonprofit organization that seeks to use market forces to protect and improve the global environment.
The home was designed from the ground up with solar power and energy efficiency in mind, and he was able to include the solar array, about 10 percent of the home's price, in his mortgage.
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