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For customers who choose to enroll in Pure Power, the additional cost on their monthly electric bill will depend on how much electricity they use, but Ameren says the average customer (a 2,000-square-foot homeowner) uses about 1,000 kWh each month, which translates into $15 more a month. For some customers it may be more or less. They can look at their bills to see how many kWhs they're using each month to calculate the cost.
Washington homeowner Larry Dupre, who is an engineer for Ameren and a Pure Power customer, said he hasn't yet noticed a significant change in his monthly bill. But heading into summer months when the family will be using more electricity to run the air conditioner, he expects the additional charge will be noticeable. Still, it's a price he's willing to pay.
"We've always been conscious of the energy situation," Dupre told The Missourian. "We recycle. I drive a (Toyota) Prius. I feel like this (Pure Power) is something else we can do."
Like Taking Two Cars Off Road for a Year
The Dupres and other Pure Power customers are definitely making a difference, said Cindy Bambini, senior manager with 3Degrees Inc., the renewable energy marketing company hired by Ameren to promote the Pure Power program.
"The average residential customer who enrolls for a year will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 22,000 pounds," said Bambini. "That's the same carbon reduction provided by 2 acres of forest every year or taking two cars off the road each year."
She noted other environmental benefits of joining Pure Power are:
*ÊLess impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas;
*ÊLower levels of air pollutants and wastewater;
*ÊReduced greenhouse gas emissions;
*ÊReduced reliance on imported and domestic fossil fuels.
There's also the added boost to Missouri's economy, because Pure Power buys green certified energy from renewable energy facilities right here in the Show-Me state.
"In just one year, Wind Capital Group wind farms in Northwest Missouri generated nearly $300 million in investment for rural Missouri," Erin Noble, director of Missouri Coalition for the Environment, reported in the group's Winter Alert 2008.
The Pure Power program is designed to get a minimum of 75 percent of its energy from wind farms and up to 25 percent from other renewable energy facilities, said Bambini.
Right now the program is getting 100 percent of its power from wind, specifically the Bluegrass Ridge Wind Farm in Gentry County in Northwest Missouri, Bambini noted. But next month, the program will begin drawing energy from a landfill gas plant in Springfield where the methane gas that comes off of trash is converted into energy.
One City Extends Challenge to Others
Pure Power is a program that's available to all Ameren customers - homeowners, small and large businesses, even cities.
Plattsburg, Mo., in the northwest corner of the state, has enrolled 17 city-owned electric service meters and two lighting accounts in Pure Power and is challenging other Missouri cities to join them in becoming a "green powered community," a label given out by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
"For that, a city needs to get at least 3 percent of its electricity from Pure Power," said Bambini, "but it's going to be kind of a status symbol, like being a Tree City USA. Cities that want to be considered 'forward-thinking' will want to do this."
Ameren's commercial customers who want to support Pure Power, but can't afford to purchase 100 percent of their electricity through the program, can purchase 1,000 kWh "blocks" for $15 each. They can buy just one block or several, said Bambini.
Another way people can support Pure Power is buying electricity through the program to offset a specific event, like a wedding or a festival.
"We can figure out how much electricity you will use at the event and then you purchase that amount through Pure Power," said Bambini.
Customers Requested Renewable Energy Program
Pure Power is not the first program of its kind to be offered by a power company. Similar programs are offered in Columbia, Springfield, even Quiver River in West St. Louis County.
Over 600 utilities across the country offer renewable energy options similar to Pure Power, with 390,000 customers subscribing to utility green pricing programs, and 580,000 customers subscribing to green energy when competitive markets are included, said Bambini.
Ameren has 1.2 million customers, and its goal for Pure Power is to have 5 percent signed up in the next five years. Currently about 3,000 residential customers have enrolled and about 100 businesses, said Bambini.
Fewer than two dozen people in Washington have joined Pure Power, but word of the program is still spreading. Advertising of the program has been limited to a few news stories, inserts in customers' monthly bills, direct mail and public events.
Bambini knows more customers are interested in joining the program, because it was Ameren customers who asked the company to start the program in the first place.
"When the movie 'An Inconvenient Truth' came out, this was one of the things it asked people at the end of the movie - 'Does your power company offer a renewable energy program?' " Bambini said. "Ameren's customers started calling."
Actually, Ameren had already been working toward providing Pure Power, she noted. Planning for the program began in the fall of 2005, almost a year before "Inconvenient Truth" was released.
"At that time the No. 2 company objective was providing renewable energy," said Bambini. "Ameren has a whole flock of renewable energy things it's working on. Pure Power is just one."
Ameren isn't making any money off the program - "It's revenue neutral," Bambini noted - but Pure Power is helping Ameren delay the need to build another power plant. As the population grows, the demand for power is only increasing.
Pure Power will help slow that down, at the same time it's putting money into Missouri's pocket and reducing carbon emissions.
3Degrees calls enrolling in the program "P.U.R.E. (People Using Renewable Energy) Genius."
To read more about Pure Power, people can visit www.ameren.com and click on the Pure Power tab on the left side of the homepage. People can enroll in the program online (you'll need to know your account number), by checking the Pure Power box on your bill, or by calling Ameren at 1-866-665-PURE (7873).
