World Energy Exchange Brokers Renewable Energy Auctions

The contracts awarded as a result of the auctions will provide electricity at an average rate of $0.0815 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), a reduction of 11.2% from the current year's contract rates. To date World Energy Solutions has brokered more than 31 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity and 64 million decatherms of natural gas.

Included in electricity contracts awarded to three suppliers -- Pepco Energy Services, Constellation New Energy and Amerada Hess -- is a provision requiring that five percent of the electricity come from "green" sources for fiscal year 2008, increasing to six percent by the third year of the contract. In using the World Energy Exchange, the Delaware consortium was able to achieve its renewable energy objectives at no additional cost premium to the price of conventional power.

The electricity needs of school districts, volunteer fire companies, the city of Wilmington, Kent County, Sussex County, the University of Delaware and Delaware Technical and Community College were aggregated for the energy auctions.

"For a commodity like electricity, the auction makes sense," said Bob Furman, Division Director of Facilities Management for the State of Delaware. "Not only is it likely to generate the most competition, but there's a psychological component in the reverse auction that pushes prices down."