Green Energy Purchasing programs provide customers the option of purchasing power generated from renewable sources, often termed "green power."  In the Western UP, this service is offered by the Upper Peninsula Power Company through their NatureWise program. The program offers 100 kWhr “blocks” of green power at a surcharge of $4 per block, which means that customers offer to pay an extra 4 cents per kilowatt-hour in order to support the use of alternative energy sources.

This surcharge, sometimes called "green-pricing," is meant to take into account the generally higher cost of producing renewable energy and does not imply that any extra services will be supplied by the utility.   

Customers who take part in this program do not directly receive their power from a renewable source. Instead, UPPCO adds together all the blocks customers have purchased and then purchases this same amount of green power from an entity (such as a wind farm) that produces electricity from renewable energy.  This power is added to the transmission grid in the area where the wind farm (or other entity) is located, resulting in fewer pollutant emissions from convential power plants in that area.  

The current sources of green power for UPPCO's NatureWise program are two wind turbines, a dairy farm waste facility, and landfill methane facility, all of which are operated by Wisconsin Public Service.   UPPCO has no green power capabilities itself. 

Although some states have mandated that their utility providers offer this service, this is not the case in Michigan and participation in such programs is left at the discretion of the utility. 

For more information consult UPPCO's NatureWise website or contact your local utility provider.

Wind Power in the Western Upper Peninsula