Power Supply

VEC’s power supply policy is to provide safe and reliable power at the least cost possible. VEC’s current power supply portfolio includes hydro, wind, solar, farm methane, wood, nuclear, and natural gas/oil sources.  

VEC can buy power through contracts with counter parties or purchase power through the ISO-NE energy market. Our long-term power supply needs are projected based on forecasts conducted every three years, and, going into each year, our goal is to have contracts in place for at least 90 percent of our projected needs. The remaining power needed is purchased from the spot market. 

Starting in 2017, Vermont’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) required all Vermont electric utilities to have 55 percent of their power supply come from renewable sources. The renewable requirement increases over time until it reaches 75 percent in 2032.  As the charts below show VEC is meeting the Vermont RPS and is approximately 59 percent renewable and 76 percent carbon free. The VEC Board recently committed to procuring a zero-carbon-emission power supply by 2023 and 100 percent renewable by 2030. 

VEC's 2021 initial power supply mix is shown in the chart below. This chart does not represent the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) associated with the energy, but rather the initial fuel sources of the energy VEC purchased to meet the demand of its membership in 2021.

The chart below represents VEC’s final REC holdings for 2021 after all REC trading has concluded. VEC’s 2021 sales totaled 455,401 MWh, equating to a Tier I requirement of 268,687 RECs and a Tier II requirement of 15,484 RECs.