Six Easy Steps to Certification

Green-e Energy certifies renewable energy products sold to residential, commercial, industrial and wholesale customers. Certification services are available to all companies selling renewable energy. The process to get a renewable energy product certified varies depending on the type of product seeking certification, based on the following two categories of companies offering renewable energy products:

• Competitive Electricity Suppliers, Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) Marketers and REC Brokers
• Utility Green Pricing Programs

For Competitive Electricity Suppliers, Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) Marketers and REC Brokers

1. Determine the Type of Certification – For competitive electricity and REC marketers, there are five types of certification – Competitive Electricity Single Mix, Competitive Electricity Multiple Mix, REC Single Mix, REC Multiple Mix and REC Broker. These categories are explained in the How To Qualify section. Determine the category of certification that applies to your product.
   
   
2. Review Green-e Energy National Standard, Contract and Other Governing Documents – To be eligible for certification, renewable energy products must meet or exceed the criteria listed in the Green-e Energy National Standard, as well as meet all other obligations of Green-e Energy.
   
   
3. Complete Program Application – This involves completing the appropriate sections of the contract and appendices for your certification category. All REC brokers, REC marketers and Competitive Electricity suppliers will fill out the Green-e Logo Use Agreement and Appendix A: Certification Application. REC brokers, REC marketers and Competitive Electricity suppliers specifically offering a product to residential customers should also submit a copy of their Product Content Label and Price, Terms, and Conditions as outlined in Appendix B: Code of Conduct and Customer Disclosure Requirements. All of these documents are available in the Contract section.
   
   
4. Green-e Certification Fees – Green-e fees are assessed on a calendar year schedule. For all REC marketers and all Competitive Electricity suppliers the base fee for the first product certified is $4,000 per year. The base fee for each additional product certified is $3,000 per year. The base fee for broker certification is $2,000 annually. In addition, certified products are assessed volumetric fees based on aggregate verified MWh volume of Green-e sales two years prior. Please see the Fees section for a more detailed description.
   
   
5. Mail Application and Fee to Center for Resource Solutions – The certification fee can be made payable to The Center for Resource Solutions. Mail two copies of your signed contract, one copy of each of the other documents required in Appendix A and your check to:

   The Center for Resource Solutions
   Attn: Green-e Energy Application
   Presidio Building 97
   PO Box 29512
   San Francisco, CA 94129

6. Ongoing Monitoring, Verification, Outreach and Support – Once your application is reviewed and accepted, in order to maintain accreditation, marketers must comply with Green-e requirements related to annual verification, adherence to the Code of Conduct, twice-annual Marketing Compliance Review, and payment of the annual fee. Compliance with Green-e requirements will also be checked after approximately three months of participation in Green-e Energy, prior to annual verification and Marketing Compliance Review.

For Utility Green Pricing Programs

1. Review Green-e Energy National Standard, Contract and Other Governing Documents – To be eligible for certification, renewable energy products must meet or exceed the criteria listed in the Green-e Energy National Standard, as well as meet all other obligations of Green-e Energy.
   
   
2. Complete Program Application and Prepare Brief Program Summary – This involves completing the Green-e Energy Logo Use Agreement and all applicable sections of Appendix A: Certification Application, including Section 3: Green Pricing Certification. Part of this section requires you to provide a brief (1-2 page) program summary indicating how your program meets the criteria. Utilities offering a green pricing product to residential customers should also submit a copy of their Product Content Label and Price, Terms, and Conditions as outlined in Appendix B: Code of Conduct and Customer Disclosure Requirements. All of these documents are available in the Contract section. Green-e Energy staff are available to work with you on preparing the application materials.
   
   
3. Green-e Certification Fees – Determine your annual fee.  The annual fee schedule is as follows and can also be found in the Fees section. 
   
   

Total Number of Customers Served	First Product	With Green-e Wholesale*	Each Additional Product
50,000 or less	$1,000.00	$750.00	$200.00
50,000-100,000	$2,000.00	$1,500.00	$400.00
100,000-200,000	$4,000.00	$3,000.00	$400.00
200,000-400,000	$8,000.00	$6,000.00	$1,600.00
over 400,000	$12,000.00	$9,000.00	$2,400.00

*If you are buying all of your supply for your green pricing program wholesale in the form of a Green-e Energy certified product, your annual fee is outlined in this column.

If a you also sell a Green-e certified REC-only product (i.e. RECs sold independent of electricity service to customers that may be outside of their service territory), you are subject to volumetric fees for those REC sales as described in the Fees section.



4. Mail Application and Fee to Center for Resource Solutions – The certification fee can be made payable to The Center for Resource Solutions. Mail two copies of your signed contract and one copy of each of the other documents required in Appendix A to:

   The Center for Resource Solutions
   Attn: Green-e Energy Application
   Presidio Building 97
   PO Box 29512
   San Francisco, CA 94129

   You may mail your check with your application materials and it will not be deposited unless and until your application is approved, or you may send it if and when your application is approved. If you send the check after approval, you may not begin selling a Green-e certified product until CRS has received your check.
   
   
5. Program Summary Presented to Stakeholders and Green-e Governance Board for Comment – The materials you have submitted to meet the requirements laid out in Section 3: Green Pricing Certification of Appendix A will be shared with stakeholders in the state(s) served by the utility.  Stakeholders will be notified by email of a 21-day comment period.  Stakeholders include utilities, regulators, renewable energy advocates, and consumer and environmental protection interests who support the creation of green pricing programs by utilities in the relevant state(s).  Any interested stakeholder is welcome to comment, and we will encourage stakeholders to circulate the information to any other interested parties for comment. These submitted application materials will also be posted on the Certification Alert section of this website. During and after the stakeholder comment period, you will be given the opportunity to respond to any stakeholder comments.
   
   Certification will be subject to the approval of the Green-e Governance Board. After the 21-day stakeholder comment period, Green-e will forward your application materials, any stakeholder comments and your responses to those comments (if any) to the Green-e Board. The Green-e Board will have ten days to reply.  If no Board comments are received during that time, the item is deemed approved. If issues are raised by the Board during that time, this may trigger a meeting of the Green Pricing Subcommittee to resolve them, after which we will re-submit the issue by email to the Board as a consent item. 
   
   
6. Ongoing Monitoring, Verification, Outreach and Support – Once your application is reviewed and accepted, in order to maintain accreditation, marketers must comply with Green-e requirements related to annual verification, adherence to the Code of Conduct, twice-annual Marketing Compliance Review, and payment of the annual fee. Compliance with Green-e requirements will also be checked after approximately three months of participation in Green-e Energy, prior to annual verification and Marketing Compliance Review.