Black Hills Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas introduce carbon offset programs
Joining the growing list of utilities exploring voluntary renewable natural gas and carbon offset programs, Black Hills Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas have unveiled programs in Colorado and North Carolina that allow interested customers the chance to offset their carbon footprints by purchasing “blocks” representing a portion of their natural gas usage.
The Black Hills Energy proposal, which was submitted to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission in early June, would allow participants to buy blocks at a fixed $5 per block. One block is the equivalent of 20.5 therms of natural gas, or roughly 25% of the average Colorado residential customer’s monthly usage. Participants have the option to offset more than their own amount of natural gas usage.
Pending approval, the four-year pilot program will start in 2023.
The GreenEdge program established by Duke Energy’s Piedmont Natural Gas was soft-launched in June 2022. This followed a survey of Piedmont customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, along with Duke Energy customers in Ohio and Kentucky, which indicated that they were interested in offsetting their personal carbon footprints.
“There is a lot of interest in offsetting your personal carbon footprint, but how exactly can you do that if you don’t buy an electric car?” Kelly Little, director of joint ventures and operations management for Piedmont Natural Gas, told American Gas. “Our customer survey response focused on key themes, indicating that customers really like affordable, voluntary RNG options as well as carbon offset options.”
In particular, customers were interested in RNG derived from landfill waste and carbon offsets from forestry projects. So, Piedmont worked with a climate expert to develop a voluntary program that would deliver blocks of 12.5 therms for $3 per block. Each block represents 25% of a North Carolina customer’s usage, and customers purchasing four blocks would offset approximately 100% of their monthly household natural gas usage. There is no limit to the number of blocks a customer can purchase.
“GreenEdge is an opportunity for our customers to make a difference in their carbon footprint by participating in an affordable and predictable program,” Little said.
Targeted specifically at residential and small business customers in North Carolina who don’t have the ability to procure RNG or other offset products, Piedmont hopes to expand the GreenEdge program to other states. As of press time, Black Hills Energy planned to submit its voluntary RNG and carbon offset program for consideration by state regulators in Kansas and Nebraska during summer, with Arkansas, Iowa and Wyoming to follow in 2023.