Renewable Energy Certificates

NOVEC is offering residential customers the opportunity to purchase renewable energy certificates. These RECs support the development of electricity generated from renewable energy resources such as wind and solar power, geothermal, hydropower, and various forms of biomass.

What Are Renewable Energy Certificates?
A renewable energy certificate is an environmental commodity that represents the added value of producing electricity from a qualifying renewable resource. For each megawatt-hour (1,000 kilowatt-hours) of electricity produced by a renewable energy generation facility, a certificate is issued as proof that the power came from a renewable resource. This certificate is then offered for sale as a way to subsidize production of green electricity.

These RECs represent the environmental attributes of the power produced from renewable energy power plants. As such, buyers of RECs are purchasing the environmental attributes of that generation, not necessarily the energy output from that generator.

NOVEC’s REC Program
NOVEC can purchase RECs on behalf of customers from a number of sources to meet their demand for renewable or green energy. These RECs will then be resold to customers at a “companion rate” that is added to their regular monthly electricity bill.

NOVEC is currently selling RECs at $.015 per kWh. A customer who wants to purchase RECs through this companion rate must purchase RECs equal to their total monthly kWh consumption. Example: John Green uses 1,000 kWh per month. If he purchases RECs, his electric bill will be increased by 1,000 x $.015 or $15 per month.

For more information, call 703-392-1503, or email [email protected].