The N.C. Utilities Commission’s order sets the price at 18 cents per kilowatt hour, the maximum allowed under legislation passed last year. It demonstrates the premium customers will have to pay for “green power.”

The state is committed to replacing part of the energy produced by coal, gas and nuclear fuels with electricity from renewable and less environmentally harmful sources. The target is to have 12.5% of the energy sold in North Carolina by 2021 produced from renewable sources or energy efficiency, according to the Charlotte Business Journal.

But, in the near term at least, that is going to mean more expensive power. And the ruling, issued Aug. 7, is the first concrete example of that.