Every green option, priced on your load
We compare green power options by cost, contract and claim.
- Length
- 6 to 8 weeks
- Price, indicative
- From $6,500, fixed fee
Green power is usually sold by someone paid to sell one kind. We take no commission, so the study compares all five kinds on your load: cost per MWh, contract length and public claim.
Six to eight weeks, five options
- Weeks 1 to 2
Load and goal
Annual MWh by site and utility, the claim you want to make, and the budget around it.
- Weeks 2 to 3
What each utility offers
Green tariffs and community solar programs for up to three utilities, from their current filed terms.
- Weeks 3 to 5
Price on your load
Cost per MWh and the annual difference on last year’s load, with contract length and exit terms.
- Weeks 4 to 6
Screen on-site solar
Roof area, roof age, shading and daytime load by site: a screen, not a design.
- Weeks 6 to 8
Readout and claims
A 60-minute readout of the comparison table and the exact claim each option supports.
What lands on your desk
- Who it is for
- Whole portfolio, up to three utilities
- Format
- Remote study, a comparison table and a 60-minute readout
- A comparison of every option: cost per MWh on your load, contract length and exit terms
- What each option lets you claim, and who holds and retires the certificates
- An on-site solar screen by site, ranked for referral to licensed installers and engineers
- An offsite PPA screen for portfolios with loads large enough to consider one
- A written statement that we take no commission from any seller named in the study
Where this program fits
A fit when
- Leadership has set a renewable electricity goal and wants the honest cost of meeting it
- Sellers have each pitched one option and nobody has compared them
- Your sites sit in two or three utility territories
- Finance wants cost per MWh, not a brochure
Not a fit when
- You have already chosen a product and need it installed; talk to a licensed installer
- You want an energy broker to place a contract; we never take a placement fee
Example: a hotel group across three utilities
A hotel group runs nine hotels from Denver to Pueblo on Xcel Energy, Colorado Springs Utilities and Black Hills Energy. The study prices a green tariff, community solar and unbundled RECs on about 8,000 MWh a year, screens four flat roofs for solar, and sets aside an offsite PPA as too long for hotels the group may sell.
Questions about Green Options Study
Which option is cheapest?
It depends on your load, your utilities and the claim you want to make, which is why we price each one on your own MWh. Unbundled RECs often cost least per MWh but support only a certificate-based claim. On-site solar needs a suitable roof, capital and a long horizon.
Why does it matter who keeps the certificates?
Because the claim follows the certificate. EPA says a REC is issued when one megawatt-hour of renewable electricity is generated and delivered to the grid. If a developer or utility keeps or sells those RECs, your subscription may change your bill but does not let you claim the renewable electricity.
Do you take commissions from developers or brokers?
No. We take no commission, referral fee or placement fee from any utility, developer, broker or installer. The $6,500 fee is quoted in writing before work starts and is the only money we receive from the study, and the study says so in writing.
Why are there no program prices on this page?
Utility green programs and rates change through regulatory filings, so a price published here would soon be out of date. We pull the current terms for each of your utilities during the study and date every figure, so you know exactly what was true when you decided.
Start with three bills
A 30-minute call, or three recent bills, tells us whether Green Options Study fits your sites.