Product Integrity

At Green Mountain Energy, we understand that renewable energy and carbon offsets can be difficult concepts to grasp. Since they aren't tangible products, we have to ensure that our customers realize they are really getting the high-quality renewable energy and offsets we’ve promised them.

To provide this assurance, an independent auditor examines our work each year to show our customers what they’re getting. As a peer-reviewed certified public accountant, the auditor:

• Tracks all of our REC purchases through the chain of ownership back to the renewable energy project owner, ensuring that no double counting of the RECs has occurred. We thoroughly vet all of the renewable energy projects we buy from ahead of time. 
  
  
• Confirms that the appropriate number and type of RECs are purchased and retired on behalf of our customers so they cannot be reused and to prevent someone else by claiming the environmental benefits (e.g., emissions avoided).
  
  
• Ensures that all applicable¹ RECs align with Green-e requirements as outlined in the Green-e Energy National Standard.

Our annual audit is no small feat. We put in hundreds of hours to responsibly track and manage our REC supply to ensure it is appropriately allocated to our customers and to provide all the necessary documentation to our auditor. And that doesn’t even include the countless hours our auditor puts in!

As a carbon-neutral provider, we believe it’s worth showing our customers the great emissions-free benefits they are getting. The most recent Green-e Certification can be found here. The letter shows that our 2020 REC retirements met or exceeded our obligations for the year.