Pacific Power seeks to adjust size of Blue Sky renewable energy block program

In a nod to growing demand for renewable energy, Pacific Power filed with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission last week in a bid to change the size of its Blue Sky block program from 200 kW-hours (kWh) of renewable energy to 100 kWh beginning next year.

Blue Sky has been around since 2000, as a means for customers to purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) and offset some or all of their usage from renewable energy sources, while supporting further development. Those funds would then be collected for acquiring RECs and covering program expenses, with anything left over supporting new community-based renewable energy projects.

“As we look forward to 2022, we thank program participants for being part of the Blue Sky community,” Berit Kling, senior product manager, said. “Blue Sky participants are leading the way to a brighter future by helping accelerate the transition to clean, renewable energy and funding local community-based renewable energy projects.”

Notably, the requested change would not affect pricing: Pacific Power sought to keep the cost per block at $1.95.

To date, the program has helped purchase more than 10 billion kWh of renewable energy and supported more than 300 community-based renewable projects, according to Pacific Power. The $1.95 rate has been in place since last year. The company added that the price of RECs remained stable from 2012-2019, but underwent a spike since 2020 that led the program’s current 200 kWh block structure to be unsustainable.

In essence, the new filing is to walk the program back to where it had been, to better reflect market fluctuation. If approved, it would take effect Jan. 1, 2022.