Building Local Power Highlight: Democratizing Antitrust with Harry First

Date: 3 Mar 2022 | posted in: Building Local Power, Podcast | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Harry First, law professor and co-director of New York University’s Competition, Innovation, and Information Law Program discusses moving antitrust away from a technocratic approach, the politicization of law enforcement, and how to reinvigorate strong antitrust legislation. … Read More

Utility Regulators Oversee Planning for a Robust, Inclusive Grid in Minnesota

Date: 27 Apr 2020 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In these comments, John Farrell outlines how Xcel Energy should improve its 2019 Integrated Distribution Plan to best serve the needs of Minnesota customers: increased access to distributed energy generation and a fair analysis of the benefits these systems provide to the grid.… Read More

FCC Ends Speculation On Broadband Speeds, Mobile Internet Access

Date: 22 Jan 2018 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

On January 18th, the FCC ended months of speculation and released a fact sheet that included several key conclusions to be included in the 2018 Broadband Deployment Report. The most important is that the FCC continues to recognize that mobile Internet access is not a substitute for fixed access. The Commission has also decided to leave the definition of broadband at … Read More

Why Utilities Are Hating on Their Solar-Producing Customers

Date: 1 Apr 2015 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

I have the privilege of talking to a lot of reporters about rooftop solar energy, and particularly about why utilities seem hell bent on stopping their customers from using their own money to add clean, renewable energy to the electric grid. If this seems confusing to you, too, here’s a quick primer with some key resources. … Read More

Watch: Unveiling the Five Pillars of Energy Democracy

Date: 6 Feb 2015 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Exciting changes are on the horizon for our century-old utility structure as solar power, energy storage, and electric vehicles open new avenues for utility customers to produce their own power and control their energy use. Utilities are scrambling to remain relevant in this technological firestorm, and energy wonks are envisioning a new business model––Utility 2.0––that keeps … Read More

Are We Sunk? The Electric Utility’s Titanic Problem

Date: 6 Feb 2015 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In my recent report on the utility business model of the future, I laid out 5 pillars of a democratic energy system. It’s hard not to notice the contrast between this vision of the future and the 15-year business plan laid out by Xcel Energy in Minnesota, the incumbent monopoly serving about half the state’s electric … Read More

Network Neutrality – Warnings From Radio Regulation

Date: 11 Jan 2015 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Many of us in the public interest telecommunications sphere are excited that the FCC appears poised to reclassify Internet access, which seems a necessary first step of protecting the open Internet. Though we often focus on the false claims of the self-interested cable and telephone lobbyists when criticizing those who oppose FCC action on this, a … Read More

A $48 Billion Opportunity for U.S. Electric Customers

Date: 15 Dec 2014 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Electricity customers in the U.S. got good news last week. A new report from Accenture highlighted a potential revenue loss for U.S. utilities of $48 billion per year by 2025 due to distributed solar and energy efficiency. But where does that money go? If we pursue a democratic energy system as outlined in ILSR’s new report … Read More

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