By Camorah King

Utility green tariffs in regulated Asia-Pacific markets offer a potential solution for energy customers seeking to partner with their utility to meet electricity demand with clean energy. A new report from the Clean Energy Buyers Association and the Asia Clean Energy Coalition (ACEC), Expanding Clean Energy Procurement Options in the Asia-Pacific Region: The Role of High-Impact Utility Green Tariffs, explores factors that have made utility green tariffs successful in the United States and discusses how utilities, regulators, and customers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region have an opportunity to adapt a proven model to their local needs in order to achieve decarbonized economic growth.

CEBA and ACEC highlighted the report during presentations at the Global Renewables Alliance Corporate Sourcing event at the Global Wind Energy Council’s APAC Wind Energy Summit, held November 26-28 in South Korea. CEBA and ACEC also featured the report at other events during the week, including a roundtable co-hosted by SEMI Energy Collaborative, Solutions For Our Climate, and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on accelerating renewable energy procurement in South Korea’s semiconductor industry, as well as an event hosted by ACEC on advancing clean energy procurement options in the Asia-Pacific region.

Utility green tariffs are created through a regulator-approved utility program that allows customers to buy both the energy and associated energy attribute certificates (EACs) from clean energy projects through an independent tariff or as an adjustment on a customer’s electricity bill. The tariffs can be implemented in liberalized as well as vertically integrated markets, making them a feasible option for single-buyer and partially liberalized markets such as those in Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Notably, Thailand has led the region in developing its Utility Green Tariff with Specific Sources (UGT2) program, set to open for application in July 2025.

Attendees at the South Korea events in November learned about the role utility green tariffs can play in markets that already have procurement options such as power purchase agreements (PPAs) and how the tariffs differ from Korea Electric Power Company’s (KEPCO’s) existing Green Premium program as well as third-party PPAs signed with KEPCO. Programs like KEPCO’s Green Premium and Malaysia’s Green Electricity Tariff only allow customers to purchase unbundled EACs on top of their regular electricity bill, for energy that is either from existing or unspecified sources.

Through a utility green tariff program, the utility will either self-build or sign a PPA with a developer to build new clean energy dedicated to the tariff program.The utility also announces a set gigawatt amount and eligibility criteria for customer application for the program, providing a streamlined and transparent approach.

Energy customers need an improved and expanded menu of procurement options that provides them with a variety of cost-competitive options, including access to new and high-impact clean energy. Utility green tariff programs are one procurement option that should be offered among a suite of options, especially if PPAs are not accessible due to cost, credit, or regulatory barriers.

In vertically integrated markets, a utility green tariff program may be the most feasible interim option on the road to direct PPAs and liberalization. CEBA and its members are eager to see the successful implementation of these tariff programs across the Asia-Pacific region.