To the Editor:

My name is Bill Gardiner and I am an Independent Associate with Viridian Energy. I have been vacationing and/or working on Martha’s Vineyard for almost 40 years, and I consider it to be my second home “away from home.”  I am also the direct sponsor of Independent Viridian Associate and longtime Vineyard resident Marc Rivers.

Marc recently brought to my attention a Letter to the Editor (Dec. 24, “Kilowatt buyer beware”) by Peter Cabana, who is identified as the “Dukes County representative to the Cape Light Compact board and the Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative (CVEC).”

Let me start by saying that I am very curious as to why Mr. Cabana decided to publicly attack Viridian Energy in the first place. Viridian Energy is simply one of the many third-party energy supply companies that are registered to do business in Massachusetts by the three major utilities, NSTAR, National Grid, and the Western Massachusetts Electric Co. I am also very curious to know how he reached anyone in customer service on a Sunday, since they are only available from Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm.

Secondly, Viridian Energy is strictly regulated by special marketing guidelines and policies set up by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), as well as the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (MA DPU). Furthermore, to obtain a license to conduct business as an Associate with Viridian, each and every one of us must pass all of about a dozen tests, several of which specifically speak to not participating in unsavory and illegal practices such as “slamming,” as Mr. Cabana insinuates we might do in his letter. We are also not “targeting” CLC customers, as he would have you believe. We are merely reaching out to and educating potential customers from all of the states in which we operate as to their ability to choose any energy supply company that they want, as federal energy deregulation has allowed them to do.

Contrary to what Mr. Cabana might lead you to believe, Viridian Energy has very flexible product options with absolutely no enrollment fees nor any hidden charges. All terms and conditions are clearly spelled out and supplied to each and every Viridian Energy customer in at least one of several different forms of communication. As a matter of fact, there is only one fee that any Viridian residential customer may end up paying, and that is an early termination fee of only $50. Now, considering the potential savings that the typical Viridian customer can expect to achieve over the three-year term of our most recent energy product, 3DOM, $50 is merely a drop in the proverbial bucket.

Finally, Viridian Energy is not simply just another third-party energy company. We are in fact the only true “green energy” company in the country, as we have only two different electricity products, Everyday Green, which is more than 50 percent renewable energy, and Pure Green, which is 100 percent wind-generated renewable energy, primarily from local renewable energy generators, such as the one at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay. And to top it all off, the renewable-energy product is 50 percent on top of the state’s current minimum standard of 9 percent, giving our customers 59 percent renewable energy for our base and most popular energy product. We also have the only business relationship with Solar City, the largest residential solar installer in the country, and it will cost you absolutely nothing to have solar panels placed on your home due to our unique relationship. You pay only for the power that you use, not the panels.

So, just what will that cost you, the consumer on Martha’s Vineyard? At the time of this writing, the cost for three years of more than 50 percent renewable energy is 12.99 cents per kWh, in comparison to CLC’s brown-energy option at 15.37 cents per kWh and their 50 percent green option at 16.27 cents per kWh, rates which, by the way, are only good until July 2015. From where I am sitting, Viridian Energy is the best value on the Island, but I’ll let readers be the judge.

Bil Gardiner

Lead Consultant

Viridian Energy

Worcester