Implementation Guide for Utilities: Designing Renewable Energy Products to Meet Large Energy Customer Needs

This implementation guide by the World Resources Institute outlines how traditional, regulated utilities can use green tariffs to meet the renewable energy demands of large commercial and industrial (C&I) customers. It synthesizes existing green tariff designs and provides strategic considerations for utilities to create attractive, pragmatic offerings that avoid unfair cost-shifting to other customers.

• Traditional, regulated utilities are well-positioned to meet the renewable energy demands of commercial and industrial (C&I) customers via green tariffs. These utilities can offer greater flexibility and lower transaction costs compared to third-party approaches due to their experience in balancing resources and aggregating load. Customers seek these options to lower carbon footprints, reduce electricity bills, and mitigate fuel price volatility.
• Green tariff programs have demonstrated tangible grid impact, contributing more than 900 megawatts (MW) of new wind and solar projects to the grid since 2013. These tariffs allow participating customers to source up to 100 percent of their electricity from renewable energy.
• The success of green tariffs depends on several key operational and design factors: engaging senior utility leadership, consulting customers during the design phase, offering cost-based and fixed-price energy from compelling projects, and integrating these into an attractive package. Additionally, utilities must ensure products are flexible and do not create an unfair financial burden on other customers in the service territory.
• Vertically integrated investor-owned utilities in the U.S. face a conflict between a regulatory model developed in the 1950s based on owned assets and modern pressures for more energy supply choice, control, and competition from cheaper renewable energy options.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Implementation Guide for Utilities: Designing Renewable Energy Products to Meet Large Energy Customer Needs. https://www.wri.org/research/implementation-guide-utilities-designing-renewable-energy-products-meet-large-energy

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Implementation Guide for Utilities: Designing Renewable Energy Products to Meet Large Energy Customer Needs. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/implementation-guide-utilities-designing-renewable-energy-products-meet-large-energy.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Implementation Guide for Utilities: Designing Renewable Energy Products to Meet Large Energy Customer Needs |url=https://www.wri.org/research/implementation-guide-utilities-designing-renewable-energy-products-meet-large-energy |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendimplementation, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Implementation Guide for Utilities: Designing Renewable Energy Products to Meet Large Energy Customer Needs}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/implementation-guide-utilities-designing-renewable-energy-products-meet-large-energy}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }