This is in reply to the Shuttle letter-writer who claimed that a salesman on the sidewalk outside Weavers Way “hoodwinked” her into signing up to receive electricity from Green Mountain Energy. The writer complained that she wouldn’t have signed up for GMEC if she’d known at the time that it is a subsidiary of NRG Energy, a company that offers a range of power generation sources, some of which are non-renewable.

To clarify: GMEC works exclusively with homeowners and renters who want to transition from non-renewable sources to renewables. Its salespeople explain to prospective customers that signing up for GMEC is like telling their utility to redirect the money they pay for power generation from fossil-fuel companies to a wind-and-solar company.

GMEC salespeople make no secret of their company’s relationship with NRG and see no conflict in this relationship. They offer affordable renewable options in a market undergoing enormous change. Warning people not to enroll with GMEC, as the letter writer did, is like warning them not to buy a Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car because other Chevy models still use internal combustion engines. It makes no sense. 

— David McKenna
(The writer is a sales representative for Green Mountain Energy.)