Best Practices for Power Source and Emissions Disclosure

Clear power source disclosure helps customers understand what electricity they are buying and the emissions associated with it. CEAP’s new Best Practices for Power Source and Emissions Disclosure offers a practical U.S. framework for more accurate, transparent, and comparable electricity disclosures. The guidance recommends product-specific disclosure; accounting based on delivered attributes rather than utility-wide averages; alignment between resource mix and emissions reporting; and clear treatment of RECs and other EACs, unspecified power, null power, and state load-based policies. Designed for regulators, utilities, electricity suppliers, and voluntary market participants, this resource helps strengthen consumer trust, reduce confusion, and support more credible clean energy claims.

This backgrounder identifies practices in PSD across ten technical and policy areas, drawing on examples from state programs such as California, New York, and Rhode Island. Each section outlines existing state rules and implementation differences, highlighting where alignment with procurement structures, tracking systems, and emissions frameworks is essential. The goal is to support improved PSD design that empowers customers, supports credible claims, and aligns voluntary and compliance markets across jurisdictions.