The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
A Pacific Gas and Electric Co. program that asks customers to fight global warming by paying a little extra on their electricity bills has enrolled just 31,000 people and takes far more money to run than it generates.
Now PG&E wants to extend the ClimateSmart program, even as consumer watchdogs question whether it’s worth the money.
Two years ago, in his renewable energy Spotlight report, JLF policy analyst Daren Bakst wrote:
North Carolina has a voluntary program called NC GreenPower that gives electricity customers the option of paying a premium in order to receive some of their energy from renewable sources. However, this program has dismal participation rates. Currently, North Carolinians choose to receive only 0.011 percent of their energy needs from renewable sources through this program. Nationally, participation rates for voluntary programs such as NC GreenPower also are very low and ?have remained steady at just more than 1% of customers.?
