1999 Benchmark Study Reveals Significant Impact of Market Rules On Green Power Market.

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 4, 1999--

A recently completed benchmark study reveals the importance of understanding the rules of the game in order to be successful in the green power marketplace.

The study, performed by Environmental Futures, Inc., details the latest disclosure, certification, labeling, and tracking initiatives aimed at helping consumers obtain meaningful information about green power and ensuring that green power sources can be verified.

The study provides a benchmark view of state, regional, and national governmental efforts to regulate green power markets, as well as voluntary initiatives to support the credibility of green power offerings.

Efforts to provide assistance to consumers, without imposing huge financial burdens on fledgling green power suppliers, have sparked a lively debate.

"Green power rules are moving targets that are still in an evolutionary stage," said Steven Rothstein, President of Environmental Futures. "A number of alternative approaches are being tested. Different regions are using different rules. It is clear that each of these approaches has a different impact on consumers and suppliers."

Disclosure and labeling requirements have been adopted by 15 of the 20 states that have passed restructuring laws thus far. The Environmental Futures study reviews these requirements and similar initiatives in states that have not yet passed restructuring laws. In addition, the study examines voluntary efforts such as the non-profit "Green-e" initiative, which defines green power and offers a label that complying suppliers can use.

The benchmark study also outlines recent draft marketing guidelines for green power issued by the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG). In addition, it analyzes mechanisms to track electricity information from the point of generation to the retail customer, including audits, a settlement-based system, tagging, and a hybrid tagging/settlement-based approach.

Environmental Futures is offering a one-day, on-site workshop that presents the key findings of its Green Power Market Rules study. For further information, contact Larry Alexander at [phone], e-mail him at larry [e-mail], or visit Environmental Futures' web site at www.envfutures.com.

Environmental Futures is a Massachusetts-based management and marketing consulting firm that has earned an international reputation in the areas of electricity restructuring and green power. The 10-year-old firm has worked closely with a number of regulated utilities seeking to develop green pricing programs. The firm has also performed work for the U.S. Department of Energy, Allegheny Power, Massachusetts Electric, the Canadian Electricity Association, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Midwest Energy, the New England Governors' Conference, BC Hydro, several German utilities, and numerous other utilities, non-profit organizations, and government agencies.