Frequently Asked Questions

The Midwest Renewable Energy Tracking System (M-RETS) tracks renewable energy generation and assists in verifying compliance with mandatory or voluntary State/Provincial Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and objectives. M-RETS is an important tool to keep track of all relevant information about renewable energy produced and delivered in the region. Currently the states & provinces participating are: Illinois, Iowa, Manitoba, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

M-RETS creates a renewable energy certificate for every MWh of renewable energy produced in the region, tracks the life cycle of each renewable certificate created, and ensures against any double-counting or double-use of each certificate.  To learn more see About M-RETS.

There is no restriction to who may open an account in M-RETS. However, only those renewable generators that are located in the M-RETS footprint (or if located outside of the M-RETS footprint, are either owned by a participating utility or have a contract with a participating utility to deliver renewable energy into the M-RETS footprint) may be registered to an
M-RETS Account and subsequently have certificates created. A generating unit is considered "renewable" if the energy generated is considered renewable by any of the seven states or provinces included in the M-RETS footprint.

M-RETS is an easy to use, Web-based system that creates, verifies, manages and enables trading for Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). The system provides a full suite of capabilities to create unique certificates, track serial numbers, track certificates in company accounts, enable transfers and transactions, track certificate retirement, and enable compliance reporting with a full audit trail.

See the Registration section.

Feel free to fill out an inquiry form on the contact us page.

The reports available on the registry public reports page. Sign-up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date on the availability of any new reports and more.

Contact the respective State Agencies and/or comissions in each participating State/Province and review their eligibility requirements. Information on each State/Provincial programs and their respective contacts can be found under the Useful Links page.

Also found in You can find the entire fee structure in the Terms of Use.

Registration Fee
Subscriber shall pay a one-time Registration Fee at the time that it registers and/or opens an Account in the M-RETS System, which Registration Fee will be based upon the size of Subscriber and the type of Account(s) opened by Subscriber. If Subscriber is registering more than one Generating Unit, Subscriber will pay a separate Registration Fee for each Generating Unit registered, and if Subscriber registers one or more Generating Unit(s) and serves load, Subscriber will pay the cumulative Registration Fee applicable to all such Generating Units and load.

Subscription Fee
Subscriber shall pay a one-time Registration Fee at the time that it registers and/or opens an Account in the M-RETS System, which Registration Fee will be based upon the size of Subscriber and the type of Account(s) opened by Subscriber. If Subscriber is registering more than one Generating Unit, Subscriber will pay a separate Registration Fee for each Generating Unit registered, and if Subscriber registers one or more Generating Unit(s) and serves load, Subscriber will pay the cumulative Registration Fee applicable to all such Generating Units and load. Subscription Fees for 2007 will be prorated based on the date on which Subscriber first opens its Account. Subscription Fees for each subsequent year will not be pro-rated, and the entire annual Subscription Fee will be due, regardless of when Subscriber first registers in the M-RETS System

Volumetric Fee
Subscriber shall pay a quarterly Volumetric Fee, which will be determined as follows:

(i) If Subscriber is a Load Serving Entity, Subscriber will pay $0.0035/MWh of total load served by Subscriber in the same quarter in the immediately preceding calendar year as recorded in the M-RETS System or, for the first year Subscriber uses the M-RETS System, as reported by Subscriber to APX at the time of registration; and

(ii) Subscriber will pay $0.005 for each secondary transfer of a Certificate (including each secondary transfer of a RRC) in the immediately preceding calendar quarter.