Renewable Energy Credits

To accommodate those individuals wishing to support renewable energy sources, the Board has developed the Renewable Energy Credits Program.  IREA offers two REC products:

Our Wind RECs are generated in Colorado and Wyoming and are supplied by Xcel Energy. Our National Solar RECs are generated in various places throughout the United States and are supplied by Sterling Planet. For information on Sterling Planet, please click here to visit their website.

The current prices for the REC products are as follows: 1 cent/kWh for Wind RECs and 5.5 cents/kWh for National Solar RECs. Consumers have the option of purchasing these RECs as a one time purchase or on a monthly basis in the amounts of: $5, $10, $15, $25, $50 or a specified dollar amount (minimum of $5).

To sign up for this program, simply click here to download our REC participant form. After filling it out, please mail it in at your convenience or with your next electric bill.

RECs Defined

Renewable energy credits represent the environmental attributes associated with renewable energy generation. Electricity generation by both conventional and renewable resources are added into the same mix on the national power grid, thus making it impossible to determine which consumers are getting the actual renewable commodity. In a green power purchase the consumer is paying for both the commodity electricity and the environmental attributes, which usually have high costs associated with it. In contrast, when a consumer buys a REC they are purchasing only the environmental attributes. This comparison is illustrated in the Figure below.

Frequently Asked Questions

For more information on Renewable Energy Credits and our program, click here for a list of our frequently asked questions. If further explanation or more information is desired, please contact Mandi Zimmerman at 303-688-3100 ext. 145 or via our email inquiry form with "Renewable Energy Credits" as the subject line.