In the end, beyond the true believers, the only green strategies that will succeed are ones that make economic sense for individuals, or ones that, like a carbon tax, that make the 'true costs' of an alternative part of the equation. In the end, it's pocketbook and politics, and in the current economic and political climate, I dispair.

I don't think that Nstar is doing as much to promote this program as they say. A television ad or two would make it seem like they were actually trying to attract customers.

NSTAR is actively discouraging people from participating in the program. I was one of the first customers to sign up for NSTAR Green and I have received at least 4 letters from NSTAR over the last 3 years telling me how I could easily unenroll in the program. When was the last time you received a letter from any vendor outlining the process for canceling their service as the primary message of the letter? NSTAR has also chosen to set the price of the product as an additional charge above and beyond conventional electricity. This makes no sense and discourages people from signing up. NSTAR has signed long-term, fixed price contracts for their wind power. Customers buying NSTAR Green should also pay a reasonable price based on NSTAR's long-term fixed price costs for their wind power. This Boston Globe article leaves people with the impression that wind power is increasing in price, but it looks pretty flat to me. The 2008 NSTAR Green rate was $0.1394 / kWh compared the new rates that will be rolled out in March 2012 of $0.1431 / kWh. So the cost of wind power has gone up less than a half cent per kWh or about 2.7% over the last 4 years. (I'm using numbers from the charts included with the article.) Meanwhile the NSTAR's delivery charges over the same period have gone 1.2 cents per kWh from $0.068 / kWh to $0.08 / kWh or a 17.9% increase over the same period. Let's look at where the real money is. How can NSTAR justify increasing their delivery charges by 17.9% for all of their customers no matter what kind of electricity they buy?

At the end of the day, this really is a cost thing. I care about this issue, but I can't convince my roommates to help me shoulder the extra cost and I can't afford to do it alone. Some math: Basic service is 7.928 cents per kwh 50% renewable is 10.462 cents per kwh 100% renewable is 12.719 cents per kwh Put another way, let's say in Dec, I used 950 kwh. My bill under basic (which I have) would be about $75 plus transmission fees, which seem to roughly double it, so about $150. For 50% renewable my bill would be around $99 so I'm guessing around $200. For 100% renewable: $121, coming back around $240. That's about $50-$100 extra, depending on which tier you went with. This would be even worse in a month that was cold and we had to turn the heat on. If we turn the heat on (whole house is electric), the bill tops out around $220. It would add up pretty quickly with the premium service. That's a lot of money. (All of these numbers were pulled from the Nstar website. I estimated the cost of my bill based on bills I've paid in the past.)

In March '12 an NSTAR customer will pay $0.15942 /kWh for basic service, $0.1927 / kWh for 50% Green, and $0.2233 / kWh for 100% Green. That means someone like you using 950 kWh per month would pay $151 for basic service, $183 for 50% Green and $212 for 100% Green. It is possible to get 100% renewable electricity for less money than you are currently paying for NSTAR's basic service. Install solar panels on your roof. Many companies will install a solar energy system for no money down and they will sell you the solar electricity from the system for 10% to 20% less than your current utility rate. So instead of paying $151 a month for dirty electricity, you could pay $136 a month for clean, renewable electricity and have fun watching the NSTAR meter spin backwards on sunny days! If you don't have a good roof for solar, you can buy Green-e certified renewable electricity on your own for much, much less than NSTAR Green. Green-e certified electricity is available from many vendors, not just NSTAR Green. You can buy renewable electricity from Midwestern wind farms for only about $0.0035 / kWh more than NSTAR's basic service. So someone like you using 950 kWh per month could be paying $155 a month for 100% green renewable wind powered electricity. That's only $4 more a month than you are paying now! You can go to green-e [dot] org to find lists of vendors who will be happy to sell you green electricity.

No matter the cost of transmitting, acquiring, and disseminating the energy, where ever it comes from, the end result should be part of the equation. If fossil fuels cost us after the fact, i.e., global climate change, then that should be part of the cost. While the electric, gas, coal and oil companies contribute to that, they pay nothing to clean up the damage, whether it's to the environment or to the people. The costs are upside down. If the price for "conventional" energy were more and those for solar, wind, hydro were supported by that, then more people would participate in the program. I'm a National Grid customer and had no idea that this program exists.

@CharliesLady we are with you! The true cost of fossil fuels is much greater than the cost of buying green power. People who choose to buy green power are a part of the solution. I work at Mass Energy Consumers Alliance, and we offer green-power buying options through National Grid. We offer pure local wind power (New England Wind) or a mix of different local green power sources (New England GreenStart). Both programs are cheaper than NStar Green, and because we are a non-profit, your payments are 100% tax-deductible. If you're not a National Grid customer, we offer an electricity matching program that allows you to contribute monthly via credit or debit card. It is called New England Wind Friends, and its also 100% tax-deductible with 100% local sources. You can sign up here: www.massenergy.org/renewable-energy You can see some of the local projects that our programs are supporting here: www.massenergy.org/wind Also, see our Executive Director's response to this article on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/massenergy

In all the time that this program has existed, I can only recall receiving one message from NSTAR about it. However, I wouldn't participate anyway, and not because of the price. When I heard about it, I thought it was an interesting idea, but the deal NSTAR was offering was "you pay us more and we promise, cross our hearts and hope to die, to buy some greener electricity to add to our grid later." Whether I'm being irrational or not, I don't trust any company of NSTAR's size to take more of my money now and do the right thing with it later (Let's talk about Foxboro's tree pruning budget), and so I passed. It's a great idea, but, whether I'm wrong or right on this, the problem for me is NSTAR. I don't trust them to do what's right.

I think several of the earlier commentators (e.g., CharliesLady, geolovely) did a very good job of highlighting this is an Economics 101 case. Since the "true" cost of fossil fuel usage is not factored into the current pricing structure, fossil fuels receive an unfair advantage vis-a-vis renewable fuels. If the full cost to society of fossil fuel usage were factored into the energy pricing equation (e.g., serious climate change damage), then renewables would arguably be much more competitive.

Promoting wind farms are good for the utilities when meeting with the politicians at rate hearings ... and for the politicians when seeking support of the environmentalists at election time....and for the environmentalists in membership drives and fund raising. BUT, not so good for consumers who live in the real world and have to pay for others miscalculations.

The NSTAR Green Plan is ridiculous. We as a society need to decide that we want to have a mix of energy sources. We already use coal, hydro and nuclear. The cost per kwh fluctuates with these sources. We need to continue to diversify our energy portfolio and add in wind farms. If the cost per kwh is slightly higher for wind energy then ALL the consumers who pay for NStar electricity will pay slightly more for the reduced energy risk. In the future, as the economics become overwhelmingly obvious and we find a clean and abundant high energy source, we can switch to that. Don't ask altruistic and guilt ridden consumers to try to shoulder the financial burden of switching to a greener and more expensive experimental source when we should all be paying for it.

Is it really that big of a deal to pay a bit more for electricity? Electricity is cheap, it's a bill I hardly even think about. What are people doing that they are getting monthly bills in the hundreds of dollars?? Time to turn out some lights (or the TV), folks. When I signed up for this (100% green) it seemed like a no brainer, I find it hard to believe that more people won't put a small amount of money where their mouth is.