Investor-owned Public Service of Colorado (PSCO) launched Windsource, currently the nation's most successful "green pricing" program in terms of enrollment, on March 21, 1997.²⁷ Over 4,500 customers will receive power from new wind projects to be installed in eastern Colorado. This program represents a public-private hybrid; the initiative only picked up speed when PSCO enlisted the Holy Cross Electric Association (a rural cooperative), non-profit groups and local governments as partners. For example, the City of Denver will spend an extra $20,000 annually to purchase a portion of its supply from wind power. Other local government participants include the City of Boulder, which purchased enough wind energy to power a new municipal building; the town hall of Netherland; the City of Colorado Springs; and the Regional Transit District. PSCO's marketing effort highlights high-profile sales and is facilitated by positive media coverage, such as a recent report on National Public Radio that wind energy will henceforth power the governor's mansion.

Two Colorado environmental organizations played major roles in developing this public-private partnership for aggregating wind power purchases: the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies (LAW Fund) and the Community Office of Resource Efficiency (CORE), a non-profit energy office funded by utilities and government agencies to promote clean energy. According to Eric Blank of the LAW Fund, local involvement encourages a sense of community ownership over the clean power product.

The LAW Fund and CORE assert that municipal utilities enjoy significantly more credibility than for-profit utilities, in part because the public believes that they share community values:

These [municipal] utilities were able to educate and inform customers about the program in a way that empowered them to take personal responsibility for the consequences of their energy choices. The municipals were able to successfully tap a spirit of goodwill, local participation, and volunteerism. They were able to spark dialogue and galvanize interest. They brought to life people's unmet desires to purchase renewable energy.²⁸

Investor-owned utilities would doubtless demur, but even the modest track record of green pricing programs demonstrates the appeal of community-based marketing: the three municipal utilities currently pursuing green pricing have added 3.3-Mw of renewable capacity, compared to 1.1 Mw added by the six investor-owned utilities offering green pricing programs.²⁹

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