Renewable natural gas option for customers

MGE is offering a new sustainable energy option for its natural gas customers. The Green Power Tomorrow (GPT) renewable natural gas (RNG) option, known as GPT RNG, is a way for customers to reduce their footprint by offsetting their greenhouse gas emissions from their use of natural gas. MGE is the first utility in the state to offer this type of RNG option to customers.

RNG is a processed biogas derived from organic waste material, such as food waste, yard and crop waste, and animal waste. It also can be produced from degradable carbon sources like paper, cardboard and wood. RNG is carbon neutral because it comes from the natural breakdown of organic sources instead of from fossil fuels.

Under the GPT RNG option, customers pay an incremental charge to participate. MGE purchases Renewable Thermal Certificates (RTCs) on behalf of the customer to offset the emissions associated with the customer's monthly usage. Customers may select a set number of therms each month to offset through GPT RNG or a percentage of their monthly usage. MGE then purchases RTCs on the customer's behalf, offsetting the emissions associated with the customer's use of natural gas.

Renewable Energy Certificates

RTCs are used to track the environmental attributes of renewable natural gas. They function in a similar way to Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which are used to track the renewable attributes of electric generation. 

Like GPT RNG, MGE's GPT program for electricity offers customers a flexible option for powering their household or business with renewable energy resources. Customers enrolled in GPT pay a penny more per kilowatt-hour for renewable energy from MGE.

When customers join GPT, they are issued RECs based on their level of participation, or said another way, based on their electricity use purchased through the program. RECs are used for tracking and assigning ownership to renewable energy generation and use. RECs are earned when one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity is generated and delivered to the electric grid from a renewable energy resource, such as wind or solar. For example, for every MWh of electricity an MGE wind turbine produces, MGE generates a REC to keep or sell. If a customer is enrolled in GPT, that customer is purchasing RECs through the program, which relies on renewable electricity being generated by MGE resources. That customer is allowed to claim that the electricity used comes from a renewable source.

When a REC is purchased, MGE retires that REC on the customer's behalf in the tracking system. It can no longer be used or sold by anyone else. MGE's GPT and GPT RNG programs are an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint.