January 12, 2008 News Media Release

Austin Energy’s GreenChoice® program, the number one utility-sponsored green power program in the nation for sales every year since 2002, has a new supply of wind-generated electricity. The program will begin accepting new subscriptions January 14th at 9:00 am.

The new supply of green energy will come from two new West Texas wind farms, one that just began generating, another that will come on line at the end of this year. The first new wind farm, located about 75 miles northeast of Lubbock, Texas, will be sending Austin close to 200 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually for the next 15 years.

Green Charge Stays Fixed
When a customer subscribes to GreenChoice, the fuel charge on their electric bill is replaced by a green power (fuel) charge. The green power (fuel) charge for the new wind supply is 5.5 cents per kWh. That charge will stay fixed through 2023. The current standard fuel charge is 3.65 cents per kWh. The standard fuel charge can go up or down each year depending on the cost of power plant fuels such as natural gas. A residential customer subscribing to the new GreenChoice supply and using an average 1,000 kWh per month will pay an additional $18.50 per month during 2008.

New Supply To Be Allocated
To ensure the new supply of wind-generated power is equally available to all customers, 25% of the first wind farm supply will be reserved for residential and small business customers. In addition, applications by larger businesses will initially be limited to not more than 15 million kWh per business. When the second new wind farm comes on line at the end of this year, all businesses will again be eligible to buy a portion of that supply, also to be priced at 5.5 cents per kWh. Meanwhile, Austin Energy is investigating the ability to secure additional renewable energy supplies.

How to Subscribe
Residential customers can subscribe here or by calling 972-7548.

Key Account customers (these are the 200 largest AE customers) should contact their Key Accounts Manager.

All other business and commercial customers should call 972-7636 to talk to a commercial representative.

#1 Program in the Country
At the end of 2008, with both new wind farms on line, Austin Energy will have contracts for the annual output of 439 MW of wind turbines. The Utility also receives the annual output from 11 MW of generation powered by landfill methane. That means that by the end of 2008, about 11% of the power sold by Austin Energy will be coming from renewable resources.

Currently about 8,700 residential customers and 450 businesses participate in the GreenChoice program. Some 350 of those businesses subscribe for 100% of the annual electric usage. This gives Austin more 100% green-powered businesses than any city in the country.

For more information, contact Ed Clark, Public Information.
Phone: (512) 322-6514
Pager: (512) 802-2000

Click for link to Austin Energy’s Media Site

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