Customers of Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO), a subsidiary of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), may soon have new options for the purchase of renewable, or "green" energy, as the result of an agreement reached with NextEra Energy Resources for the long-term purchase of 99 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy from a wind farm currently under construction near Minco, Okla.
 
If approved by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC), a portion of the electricity generated at the Minco wind farm will be set aside specifically for PSO customers who want to purchase more of their power from renewable resources.
 
"There is an interest on the part of some PSO customers to be able to have a certain portion, if not all, of their energy coming from renewable energy resources," said Kathy Champion, PSO’s consumer programs manager.
 
"The addition of this new wind energy resource will provide PSO the opportunity to address our customers’ preferences to have more electric energy from renewable resources and will allow individual customers to decide how much renewable energy will be used to serve their loads."
PSO is proposing a voluntary program that allows customers to designate the amount of their energy requirement that will be provided by renewables. The program will allow customers to buy their preferred number of fixed kilowatt-hours (kWh) blocks. Each block would equal 100 kWh.
 
Customers may elect to purchase from a minimum of one block a month up to a maximum of 100 percent of their monthly use.
 
Champion said PSO chose this format because of the certainty that block pricing gives to customers, the ease in pricing and billing under the plan, and the ability to track the results of the program.
 
The program will also be the first in Oklahoma to have the Green-E certification. Green-E is a nationally recognized, independent certification process that provides, among other things, certainty to the claims of the green utility price offering.
 
"PSO believes offering a Green-E certified program will add credibility to our program and we are excited to be the first in Oklahoma to pursue this certification," said Champion.
 
PSO, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is an electric utility company serving approximately 530,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma. Based in Tulsa, PSO has 4,405 megawatts of generating capacity, and is the largest provider of wind energy in the state.
 
American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.