I found the first mention of this on Bruce Sterling’s blog, but there’s a press release on the Austin Energy site and you can find stories on it from News8, Austin Chronicle and the Statesman.
Apparently, with the high prices of traditional energy sources, Austin Energy’s Green Choice program is now actually cheaper than the conventional service. The Wife signed us up for this a while back and we’ve been paying a little more for our electricity in order to be more environmentally friendly. Well, now it’s paying off in another kind of green. Those on the Green Choice program will save roughly $16 a year on their electricity at the current rate for electricity from traditional sources (coal, gas, etc.). Since the Green Choice program is a fixed cost and the other costs flucuate, it’s possible that those on the Green Choice program will be paying more again sometime in the future, but it appears to be the cheaper bet for now. Demand is so high that they’re holding a lottery for those who’d like to switch. The somewhat confusing details can be found in the articles that I linked. The Chronicle seems to be claiming that you don’t even need to enter the lottery to switch. Or am I reading that wrong?