Press Center

APX Pioneers Trading of Green Tickets

Cupertino, CA - April 22, 1999 - APX (APX) today announced the implementation of green ticket trading starting the first week of May in the APX Green Power Market. Green generators will sell their power into the commodity energy market, and receive a green ticket for every megawatt-hour of power they generate. This facilitates trading of green power by (1) technology type, (2) plant vintage (existing or new), and (3) CEC credit eligibility. The green tickets will be traded in a yearly market.

"We've been very pleased with the results we've had to date in the APX Green Power Market," notes Jake Rudisill, Calpine's Vice President – Western Region of Calpine. "We believe the transition to the green ticket approach will provide us with even more opportunities to profit in this market, and provide additional liquidity in the APX Markets overall."

"The Renewable Program Committee of the California Energy Commission strongly supports innovative approaches that aid the development of the green market. APX has developed a new and creative program that will assist consumers in making an informed and decisive change to select green power," says Michal C. Moore. "Ultimately, this type of trading system should enhance our ability to track renewable power sales in the western states as well."

"As we rapidly expand our customer base, the APX Green Power Market will enhance our abilities to purchase the green technologies we want at the price we want," states Fred Bloom, CEO of Commonwealth Energy. "The green tickets provide us with the flexibility to purchase to meet our needs. We can also support new green power plants by specifically purchasing from these facilities through APX."

"NRDC supports APX's efforts to offer the choice between different generating resources in the APX Green Market," says Sheryl Carter of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in San Francisco. "We are also pleased to see that buyers can now specifically choose new renewable resources. This will provide increased opportunities for product differentiation and improve signals to the market as to the value of different resources."

"APX's green power trading method provides a framework for accurate tracking of green power from producer to consumer," adds Bill Gillis, Commissioner of the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission. "This goes hand-in-hand with the efforts among the western states to accurately track electricity sales between the states. Tracking of electricity sales is absolutely necessary to verify to consumers that they are getting the electricity product they are paying for."

APX operates the APX Markets, providing forward markets to buy and sell electric power. In addition to northern and southern California electricity markets, APX provides a Green Power Market for buyers and sellers of environmentally preferred generation.