Being frugal is a fiscal responsibility. So why do I stay with the first company to bring green electric products
to the market, while I could save a few bucks by switching to some others? We've heard all the standard arguments about
Green Mountain's good customer service, bills that list the carbon equivalents saved by using Green Mountain electricity,
online bill-paying, and tremendous growth of wind energy in the state of Texas...so really, why?
There are now twenty or so competing clean, "green" electric products being marketed in Texas, a high
compliment toward Green Mountain's forward looking vision ten years ago and that state's nation-leading wind-generated
electrical capacity. Some of these products cost the same as Green Mountain's price for renewable
power, because that reflects the actual costs of clean electricity today. Others charge less than Green
Mountain because such products are being used as retail "loss leaders", being in effect subsidized
by the hordes of other customers making slight overpayments on each company's polluting fossil-fueled electricity
products.
This strategy of selling green power at a loss, while intended to harm the market share of original industry leader Green
Mountain, is not sustainable and will not work. Look for example to Reliant Power, a company with
vast resources which brought out a directly competing green, and in some ways, superior electric product in late 2006.
It lasted three months on the market, and after this has no longer been advertised. Why? Because retail power sales
work on a narrow (roughly 5%) margin, and Reliant's recent annual reports showed even less than overall 5% retail margin contribution.
If you see any renewable electricity product on your monthly bill, I say, GREAT.
That tells me you are already convinced to join those of us who want to do the right thing. But thankfully we
are beginning to see many right things from which to choose. If you want to do the most you can to clean up the mess
in Texas air, switch to Green Mountain Energy Company.
Green Mountain was the first (1997), will stay the biggest (a national company with 120,000 Texas customers
and counting), and still is the best alternative energy retailer out there. Unlike all of its
competitors, Green Mountain's entire business is built upon selling cleaner electricity to customers just like you.
A dollar spent with Green Mountain goes to support renewable energy in Texas. A dollar spent with anyone else simply
supports an unsustainable business that primarily makes power the way it has always been made - in the long run, badly.
You and I both know that needs to change.
