Electricity Supplier Options in Calgary

[SeeGeeWhy]

Hi Everyone,

I am going to be moving very soon and it has caused me to consider moving to an electricty supplier that does not generate it's product using coal fired plants.

I don't think that the de-regulated market in Alberta leaves much for options when it comes to choosing a power supplier if I want to stay "on the grid" (i.e. better reliability) - which means that I will likely be staying with Enmax. One option I do know of is to tell Enmax to buy my electricty from Bullfrog, a company that generates power using wind farms in Alberta. It's a bit more expensive (think $180/year more... peanuts, really), but it is an intriguing option.

Do any of you know of more options, or have been down this road yourself and can relate a few tales of success and/or caution? I am open to hearing about options that would be off the grid as well.

Thanks in advance,
CGY

[Reaper]

Just tell Enmax to put you on their Greenmax program. All the power you use is wind generated under that program.

[Alana Flames]

ya its a bit more expensive but I think you can still use easymax on it so the discount evens it out.

[Flames09]

Originally Posted by Reaper

Just tell Enmax to put you on their Greenmax program. All the power you use is wind generated under that program.

I thought only half of the power you use on Greenmax was wind generated???? Well that's what the lady from Enmax told me.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Flames09

I thought only half of the power you use on Greenmax was wind generated???? Well that's what the lady from Enmax told me.

There are two plans. One gets you "half of what an average house uses" and the other is "full" wind generation.

I buy the full, but my power bills were only $40-50 to start with, so I'm actually paying for more wind generation than I get, so one of you lucky suckers is getting some free green power from me.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Plus I thought that Easymax was just a conglomerate of smaller outfits that buy and sell energy off the grid from the greater energy pool as a whole - I am not sure about the stability of such a contract in high demand times.

I think that Enmax is building a bunch of wind farms, but I am not sure if their output is going to match demand if enough people go over to 100% power from wind in their greenmax program.

I am going to look at this deeper on the EUB website today to see what I can come up with.

[arsenal]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Plus I thought that Easymax was just a conglomerate of smaller outfits that buy and sell energy off the grid from the greater energy pool as a whole - I am not sure about the stability of such a contract in high demand times.

Nope. Where did you get that information from?

Originally Posted by SeeGeWhy

I think that Enmax is building a bunch of wind farms, but I am not sure if their output is going to match demand if enough people go over to 100% power from wind in their greenmax program.

Yes, Enmax is building a bunch of windfarms in southern Alberta and a huge one off the coast of BC.
There is a huge missconseption of how Green Energy works. If you stay on the grid, and purchase Green power from Enmax (GreenMax) or Bullfrog (through Enmax, Direct, Epcor etc), all that means (in calgary) is that the retailer will purchase Green Energy from a Generation plant to cover your footprint from the power pool.

So there is a pool of energy (in calgary) that Enmax (as a generator/distributor) that everyone in Calgary who is on the grid gets their electricity from. If your energy footprint is 200kwh of electricity, and you are on GreenMax or purchase from Bullfrog, your retailer (Enmax, Direct, Epcor, etc) will purchase green generated electricity to cover your usage from the pool.
All electricity (be it Wind Generated / Coal Generated) goes into the same pool to be distributed through out the city.

Let me know if that doesn't make sence, and I will try to explain further.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by arsenal

So there is a pool of energy (in calgary) that Enmax (as a generator/distributor) that everyone in Calgary who is on the grid gets their electricity from. If your energy footprint is 200kwh of electricity, and you are on GreenMax or purchase from Bullfrog, your retailer (Enmax, Direct, Epcor, etc) will purchase green generated electricity to cover your usage from the pool.
All electricity (be it Wind Generated / Coal Generated) goes into the same pool to be distributed through out the city.

Let me know if that doesn't make sence, and I will try to explain further.

I think that's pretty obvious. And for those of us that didn't think it was so obvious, we all figured that out by the fact our power doesn't go out on calm days

[arsenal]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

I think that's pretty obvious. And for those of us that didn't think it was so obvious, we all figured that out by the fact our power doesn't go out on calm days

Fair enough. Just thought I would try to help