Highlights:

• Nearly 2% of Bowling Green Electric System customers are participating in the Green Power Marketing - the first such green pricing program for electricity in Ohio. Run-of-the river hydro and landfill gas by 2001 will in the green portfolio.
• Additional green funds collected from customers will be used to construct new solar or wind resources next year - among the first new solar and wind renewables for electric supply in Ohio.
• Residential load management switches are being installed using AMP-Ohio central dispatching, software and equipment. Approximately 782 devices have been pledged.
• Gas aggregation under the Columbia Gas Customer Choice program allows nearly 600 Bowling Green participants to combine loads of small customers from several cities for the purpose of bidding their gas supply through AMP-Ohio.
• Long term contracts & discount program ures a stable customer base since 2,219 customers or nearly one third of the Bowling Green electric load have agreed to .5˘/kWh discounts (or 9% on 750 kWh bills) in return for staying with the municipal electric supplier through 2008.

Bowling Green Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Programs:

• Green Energy Rider Program: The City of Bowling Green electric utility is offering its customers the opportunity to purchase "green power" from a newly constructed, run-of-the-river hydro facility. Customers can purchase up to 100% of their electricity needs in 25% increments at a price premium of 1.38˘ per kWh of green power purchased. Power for the program is supplied from a 42-MW, municipally-owned Belleville hydro plant of which Bowling Green owns a 6-MW share. The city will use the additional funds collected from customers to construct new solar or wind resources next year. In a survey conducted by the utility, about 500 of the city's 12,300 customers expressed interest in participating in the program. The city plan advertised the program in bill inserts beginning in June 1999.
• Ohio’s Green Power Leader: Hosting a statewide municipal "Green Power" workshop on Aug. 3, 1999, Bowling Green is working with SEED Ohio which has ordered a new 50 meter Wind Monitor Tower to be installed on City land. In September 1998 Bowling Green hosted an OMULW session including a visit to Solar Cells, Inc. in Toledo, where discussions of a photovoltaic system in Bowling Green have continued. The Green Rider Program was featured in June on the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Green Power Network web site
• Residential Load Management Switches allow th e City to control the cycling of air conditioning and hot water heaters during peak electric use hours. Residential customers who volunteered to participate in the Bowling Green’s load management program received a free energy efficent compact flourescent bulb.