Local Energy Rules

A widening chasm between what customers want and what Santa Fe’s electric utility delivers is bolstering a campaign to rejigger power production and distribution, possibly putting the city itself in charge.

The municipalization campaign, years in the making, comes as the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) leans on a long-term strategy that shortchanges renewables, includes shaky financial analysis, and diverges from what most ratepayers say they want.

Now, New Energy Economy — the Santa Fe advocacy group spearheading the effort — is vetting its options for toppling a monopoly criticized for its resistance to renewables and market-leading fees. Santa Fe could form a municipal utility on its own, or aggregate demand with communities nearby and form a utility alongside them. John Farrell, ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative Director, spoke with Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy, in August 2016.

https://ilsr.org/articles/in-santa-fe-momentum-builds-for-locals-to-take-charge-of-electricity-system-episode-39-of-local-energy-rules-podcast/

A widening chasm between what customers want and what Santa Fe’s electric utility delivers is bolstering a campaign to rejigger power production and distribution, possibly putting the city itself in charge.

The municipalization campaign, years in the making, comes as the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) leans on a long-term strategy that shortchanges renewables, includes shaky financial analysis, and diverges from what most ratepayers say they want.

Now, New Energy Economy -- the Santa Fe advocacy group spearheading the effort -- is vetting its options for toppling a monopoly criticized for its resistance to renewables and market-leading fees. Santa Fe could form a municipal utility on its own, or aggregate demand with communities nearby and form a utility alongside them. John Farrell, ILSR’s Energy Democracy Initiative Director, spoke with Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy, in August 2016.

On June 17, John Farrell delivered a keynote address to the annual Midwest Energy Fair in Custer, Wisconsin. In this presentation, John detailed the growth of renewable energy and how new technologies and smart policies can lead to the downfall of the monopoly electric utility.

https://ilsr.org/articles/video-the-coming-of-energy-democracy-midwest-renewable-energy-fair/

On June 17, John Farrell delivered a keynote address to the annual Midwest Energy Fair in Custer, Wisconsin. In this presentation, John detailed the growth of renewable energy and how new technologies and smart policies can lead to the downfall of the monopoly electric utility.

Thank you to the Midwest Renewable Energy Association for the recording of John's talk.

“We just need to become the Ben and Jerry’s of the utility world!” So said Mary Powell, CEO and president of Green Mountain Power, as she announced in 2014 that her electric utility had just earned B Corp certification, making it one of more than 1,700 companies in the world committed to rigorous standards.

https://ilsr.org/articles/mountains-beyond-mountains-how-green-mountain-power-became-more-than-an-electric-utility-episode-38-of-local-energy-rules-podcast/

“We just need to become the Ben and Jerry’s of the utility world!”

So said Mary Powell (pictured left), CEO and president of Green Mountain Power, as she announced in 2014 that her electric utility had just become certified as a Benefit Corporation. The “B-Corp” designation means that the utility must follow certain standards of accountability, transparency, and sustainability alongside its traditional commitment to shareholder returns. There are more than 1,700 B Corps in 50 countries, spanning 130 industries.

For an electric utility, that means moving from just selling energy, toward “energy as a service.” We’ve written about them before. Back in January, Powell talked with John Farrell about what it means to make energy into a service, and how a utility can transform itself into a societal good.

Incentives designed to make rooftop solar feasible for a wider range of consumers are under attack nationwide, threatening new solar development as well as the consumers that already have rooftop panels. The staunchest opponents? Utilities who say, despite a growing body of research to the contrary, that rooftop solar hurts other ratepayers and their bottom lines.

In particular, utilities have railed against net metering policies that require them to provide credits to customers that produce energy from their own solar arrays. Those programs, and other key incentives supporting rooftop solar, are at the center of fierce debates in several states — notably in Arizona, on former U.S. Rep. Barry Goldwater Jr.’s home turf.

https://ilsr.org/articles/competition-and-freedom-at-stake-episode-37-of-local-energy-rules-podcast/

Incentives designed to make rooftop solar feasible for a wider range of consumers are under attack nationwide, threatening new solar development as well as the consumers that already have rooftop panels. The staunchest opponents? Utilities who say, despite a growing body of research to the contrary, that rooftop solar hurts other ratepayers and their bottom lines.

In particular, utilities have railed against net metering policies that require them to provide credits to customers that produce energy from their own solar arrays. Those programs, and other key incentives supporting rooftop solar, are at the center of fierce debates in several states -- notably in Arizona, on former U.S. Rep. Barry Goldwater Jr.’s home turf.

Arizona’s fraught energy policy landscape sprouted the advocacy group Tell Utilities Solar won’t be Killed, or TUSK, in 2013. The group is led by Goldwater and now active in more than a dozen states facing similar discord. Goldwater spoke with ILSR’s Director of Energy Democracy, John Farrell, in May 2016 about solar energy as a source of freedom and the threat from incumbent monopoly utilities.

A surge of interest in residential solar arrays threatens traditional utilities’ outdated business model of selling more and more electricity, prompting them to adopt a controversial fee that hurts efficiency and diminishes long-range cost savings — even for themselves.

Mandatory fixed fees on utility bills force consumers to pay up no matter how much, or how little, electricity they use. Utilities are increasingly pushing higher fees, skewing rate plans to erode benefits for customers with rooftop solar that offsets power demand and eases strain on the grid.

https://ilsr.org/articles/utilities-strip-consumers-control-over-energy-bills-episode-36-of-local-energy-rules-podcast/

A surge of interest in residential solar arrays threatens traditional utilities’ outdated business model of selling more and more electricity, prompting them to adopt a controversial fee that hurts efficiency and diminishes long-range cost savings -- even for themselves.

Mandatory fixed fees on utility bills force consumers to pay up no matter how much, or how little, electricity they use. Utilities are increasingly pushing higher fees, skewing rate plans to erode benefits for customers with rooftop solar that offsets power demand and eases strain on the grid.

Solar and conservation advocates call it a knee-jerk response from utilities facing upheaval in a fast-evolving marketplace. As rooftop arrays become more accessible, traditional power providers have showcased a toolbox filled with tactics for curbing the viability of solar -- including by piling on costs.