Arcadia Power is the first company to make renewable energy available to everyone.
While the move toward renewable sources of energy is something we should be striving for, many questions arise when looking at what Arcadia has to offer.
The Arcadia power review will help answer your questions about the company and if it is the right choice for your household.
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What is Arcadia Power?
Arcadia Power is the first company to make access to renewable energy available to everyone.
This includes people who do not have the correct roof lines for solar or live in areas where wind power is not an option (or if you are like me and your HOA hates the idea of solar panels on the front of your home, but I’m not complaining).
The plans are even available to people in rentals or apartments.
How Arcadia Power Works
When you pay your electric bill, you are paying for both the generation and transmission of electricity to your home. Since all the electricity coming to your home comes down the same power lines, you will always pay the transmission costs to the same company.
However, in many states, you can choose where your power is generated, and this is where Aradia steps in to offer a clean energy alternative. For no charge, at all, you can have 50% of your power come from wind energy.
Once you sign up for an account, you will connect your Arcadia account with your current power company. Then everything is managed through your dashboard.
There is no work or coordination to do on your part. Your current electric company does not change. Instead, Arcadia sits on top of that service, making sure that you are getting clean, renewable energy to your home.
Sign Up Process
Signing up with Arcadia is very easy. You enter your zip code, fill out the personal information, and then connect with the billing for your current power company.
From then on, you will pay your electric bills through the Arcadia platform, and they take care of the rest. The one area that may cause some problem is that Arcadia charges you for the bill ass soon as they get it.
So, if you are used to waiting until the last minute to pay, be prepared for it to hit your credit card a little early.
How They Make Money
Whenever I see a service that is free but takes revenue to keep going, I wonder how they are paying for all of it.
With Arcadia power, they make money by:
- Commissions received from renewable energy credits.
- Commissions from connecting people to community solar power projects.
- Taking a percentage of the money they save you when they find a better price on energy.
- Sales made through their website for energy-saving products, like smart thermostats.
Plans
There are two plan options with Arcadia Power.
Free
Yes, that says free.
You can get up to 50% of your power converted over to renewable energy sources at no additional charge to you. Once you are signed up, you can see in your dashboard where your energy is coming from.
Premium
The premium plan will add 1.5¢ per kilowatt-hour to your billing. For most people, this translates into an additional $10-$15 per month in energy costs.
What you get is 100% of your electricity usage coming from renewables and the knowledge that you are supporting additional renewable energy research and development.
Additional Features
On top of making renewable energy available to everyone, the Arcadia Power dashboard has several other features that make it an excellent addition to your utility.
Price Alerts
If you live in an area that has deregulated energy, then you have the option to watch out for price alerts.
This means that the pricing tool checks the rates from various companies and alerts you to the lowest price available. This feature keeps you from having to do all the leg work of checking with each available company.
While this is available with the free plan, the idea is to help people save enough money with pricing that they can afford to upgrade to the Premium plan.
Usage Tracking
In the dashboard, you can easily track how much power you are using, compare your energy usage to the average for people with a similar-sized home, and see how much of your power is coming from renewable sources.
Along with seeing this information in their dashboard, you will also receive a renewable energy certificate (REC) from the not for profit Center of Resource Solutions.
Is Arcadia Power Legit?
Yes, Arcadia Power is a legitimate company that connects people to renewable energy resources without having new equipment added to their home.
There are very few poor reviews of the service online and the model they have produced works in the majority of our electric grid. The company has under its management more than two terawatt-hours annually of energy demand.
They have also averted more than 859,000 tons of CO2 from our energy production.
Company History
Arcadia was founded in 2014 and has grown quickly to support more than 200,000 users.
Today they are connected to more than 120 utilities, 12 wind farms, 675 acres of community production, and support more than 550 wind and solar jobs.
Pros
- Ability to have renewable energy at your home
- Easy to sign up.
- Free to use.
- Automatic payment of your electric bill
- It helps increase the demand for renewable energy sources.
- Price alerts to help you save money.
- Easy to use dashboard.
Cons
- Not all plans and features are available in all areas.
- 100% of renewable energy does increase your bill.
- It doesn’t send renewable energy directly to your home. Instead, it increases your area’s demand.
Arcadia Power Review Final Thoughts
If supporting renewable energy is something that you have wanted to do but have never had the resources or ability to make happen, then Arcadia Power is a viable option.
For those who have no interest in renewable energy, I still think the company is a good option for keeping better track of your electricity and for saving money if you are in a deregulated state.
Overall, it looks like Aradia Power is a winner for most people and the environment.
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