Almighty Power

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That's why Green Mountain has yet to see profits, although some big--and surprising--names support it. (BP Amoco and Nuon, a Dutch utility, each pumped in $50 million last fall and took over the chairmanship from, odder still, Texas billionaire Sam Wyly, an oil and coal man who is also a longtime friend of President Bush's.) The Golden State could have been a huge market, but on Feb. 1 California stripped consumers of the right to choose their electricity provider, be it green or brown.

Now operating in six states, Green Mountain bets that Ohio, Texas and others will make up for lost California accounts. By autumn it expects to serve about 600,000 nationwide. That's pretty low wattage, but with OPEC threatening to hike oil prices again, the future is, well, brightening. This year, an additional 1,000 MW of green power will come online, thanks to a doubling of wind capacity. Green-energy believers such as Bingham and MacAusland will just have to pray the politicians won't screw it up again and will let the people have the right to pick their power.