Thursday, February 16, 2012

Evaluating the Different SREC Brokers

Funny thing about how these blogs work. If I approve a comment, it flies away to whatever original post it was made to, with no way (that I see) for me to subsequently address it.

I just had a question about whether I'm still satisfied with my choice in SREC brokers, which is SRECTrade. The answer is yes. They're very easy to deal with, everything is completely transparent, the interfaces I use to maintain my account are strong, and I'm convinced that I'm getting as much for my SRECs as I would any place else. Occasionally somebody will reply when I mention a selling price to tell me they got more, but I'm guessing it's more a function of my own bid floor/ceiling settings, etc., than anything else. The fees that SRECTrade is charging per transaction seems minimal and these things are publicly traded, so I can't imagine too much variance.

There are some "higher level" (for lack of a better term) brokers out there that use guaranteed prices to lock SREC owners in for set periods of time. Many installers try to push these on new solar installation owners, most likely because they're getting a commission. At first I scoffed at these because when I was starting out, SRECs were going for a lot more money than these "lock/guarantee" people were offering. Now that SREC prices have dropped, maybe it wasn't such a bad deal after all.

But in sum, I'm happy with my broker and have no plans to change in the near future...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Dave!

Thanks for endorsing SRECTrade! We work hard to bring transparency to the SREC markets and love to hear when people appreciate our work!

If you have any questions about the market for your blog posts please feel free to contact Sam Rust at sam.rust@srectrade.com.

The SRECTrade Team

Anonymous said...

It is incorrect to state that SRECs are publicly traded. While SRECTrade does post what their auction clearing prices are, transactions via SRECTrade are only a fraction of total SREC sales, for any state's SRECs. While you can look at the self-reported sale prices on PJM-GATS, there is no place that truly publishes simplified information on spot SREC prices. (The info on PJM-GATS includes prices agreed to in long-term contracts, so it will still state that some NJ SRECs are selling for $600).

Having worked for an SREC broker, they are able to obtain prices that are 10%-30% higher than those posted on SRECTrade or Flett Exchange. SREC purchasers are willing to pay significantly more for mass quantities of SRECs, as it reduces their administrative costs. Additionally, by avoiding SRECTrade's 2% seller's fee and $5 buyer's fee, both parties will come out ahead.

There are many companies out there that aggregate customers' SRECs, enabling them to get a better price for your SRECs. They typically charge a commission of around 5%, but you will end up with more money in your pocket than if you used SRECTrade. You can find a list of such companies on PJM-GATS.

If you would like to contact me directly, I can be reached at davidbaily11@gmail.com.

David

daveconifer said...

Sam, I'm just trying to be honest about my experience.

David, thanks for the information. I've tried to set a "non-expert regular guy" tone for this blog, and exchange of information is what I'm all about...

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