National Recognition for Green Participation

With 5.4% of residential customers purchasing green power equal to all or a portion of their electric use, River Falls Municipal Utilities currently ranks ninth in the nation on an annual list of top customer participation rates in renewable energy programs among U.S. electric utilities. River Falls is the only Wisconsin community-owned utility in Wisconsin to make the 2007 list.

The Top 10 list is compiled annually by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, an arm of the U.S. Department of Energy. The organization also ranks utility green power programs based on total sales of renewable energy, total number of customer participants and the premium charged to support the development of new renewable resources. The lists are compiled each year based on U.S. utilities’ green power program performance in the previous year.

River Falls is not a newcomer to NREL’s ranking of top customer participation rates, having reached no. 10 on the 2005 list based on 3.8% participation in 2004. Since then, the River Falls Municipal Utilities Renewable Energy Program customer participation rate has increased to 5.4% in 2006, earning the utility the no. 9 spot on this year’s list.

The increase is due, in large part, to an impressive response by River Falls citizens to a recent challenge from Mayor Don Richards encouraging residents to increase their support of renewable energy by purchasing blocks provided by renewable sources. During the course of the challenge, citizens increased their enrollment in the Renewable Energy Program by 55%.

Securing a spot in the Top 10 national list is just the latest in a number of renewable energy and environmental efforts by the utility, including a recently announced collaborative effort between RFMU, the University of Wisconsin – River Falls and WPPI to develop mutually beneficial renewable energy and energy conservation programs, projects and educational activities within the community of River Falls and on the UW-River Falls campus.

River Falls customers who participate in the Renewable Energy Program are supporting WPPI’s green energy portfolio, which includes a refurbished, low-impact hydroelectric plant near Black River Falls, Wis., and two wind turbines in southern Minnesota. WPPI recently announced plans for a drastically expanded renewable energy portfolio to include the addition of new wind power resources in Wisconsin and Iowa as well as a landfill methane gas-to-energy project in Outagamie Co., Wis.

Overall, more than 3,000 customers across WPPI member communities now purchase a combined total of more than 1 million kilowatt-hours of clean, green power each month. That's enough to offset the need to burn almost 1,275,414 pounds of coal monthly to produce the same amount of electricity.