Green Power Switch

What is Green Power Switch?

Green Power Switch is a renewable energy initiative offering consumers in the Tennessee Valley a choice in the type power they buy. TVA and local public power companies, working with environmental community , developed the program to bring green power — electricity generated by cleaner, renewable resources such as solar, wind and methane gases — to Valley consumers.

How much does it cost?

Green Power Switch is sold to residential consumers in 150-kilowatt-hour blocks (about 12 percent of a typical household's monthly energy use). Each block adds $4 to the customer's monthly power bill. Consumers can buy as many blocks as they like. Green Power Switch is also marketed to commercial and industrial consumers, who are asked to buy blocks based on the amount of energy they use.  

Does it benefit the environment?

The environmental impacts of traditional energy sources such as coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear power can be significant. Although no source of energy is impact free, renewable resources create less waste and pollution. In fact, an investment of an additional $8 per month on your power bill buys enough Green Power to equal the environmental benefits of planting an acre of trees in the Tennessee Valley.

How Green Power is produced?

TVA has built the first commercial windpowered turbines in the southeastern U.S. on Buffalo Mountain in Anderson County, Tenn. Solar generation sites are located in the service areas of participating public power companies. And methane gas is providing power at two sites: the Middle Point Landfill in Middle Tennessee and Allen Fossil Plant in Memphis, where a methane waste by-product from the city's wastewater treatment plant is used for co-firing.

How does the Green Power get to its subscribers

Physical laws determine where electricity is consumed, so power from these sources will go into TVA's electric system as part of the Valley's total power mix rather than to individual homes or businesses.

How many consumers does Green Power Switch serve?

More than 7,000 residential consumers and more than 300 businesses have signed up for green power in the Tennessee Valley. TVA and 66 distributors of TVA power offer Green Power.