Utilities Gamble With Household Money — Episode 187 of Local Energy Rules

Date: 5 Jul 2023 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Tony Bartelme discusses how utilities have wagered and lost billions of customer dollars, why customers are on the hook when utilities take financial risks, and how unhappy customers can counter utility power grabs.… Read More

StarTribune: Utility Lobbying Violates Ratepayers’ Free Speech

Date: 23 Mar 2023 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States, Media Coverage | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In this commentary from the Minneapolis StarTribune, John Farrell makes a case against monopoly utilities using customer funds for political lobbying. Compelling captive customers to pay for political speech is a violation of their first amendment right, says Farrell.… Read More

Pennsylvania Bill to Ease Municipal Broadband Restrictions; Experts Say It Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Date: 13 Dec 2022 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

A bipartisan coalition of Pennsylvania lawmakers have introduced legislation that attempts to reverse some of the state’s stringiest provisions hamstringing municipal broadband builds. But experts suggest that while the bill may be well intentioned, a …… Read More

Colorado’s Anti-Community Broadband Law: A Decade and a Half Later

Date: 16 Jun 2020 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

It’s been 15 years since Colorado passed SB 152, the state law intended to restrict communities from building and managing their own broadband networks In this episode Christopher talks to Ken Fellman and Geoff Wilson. They describe how monopoly Internet providers used legislative allies to introduce the anti-local authority bill aimed at protecting their profits.… Read More

Leaked Draft Bill Confirms Xcel Energy’s Priority for Profits Over Community Solar

Date: 30 Mar 2018 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

A newly-released parody video makes Xcel Energy’s top priority clear: maximize profits for shareholders, even if that comes at the expense of the country’s most successful community solar program. Supporting analysis of a leaked draft bill from Xcel lobbyists illustrates this further and points out the company’s nasty habit of trying to make its own rules.… Read More

Monopoly Power and Network Neutrality

Date: 7 Dec 2017 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

The FCC is scheduled to decide the fate of Internet access on Thursday, Dec 14. Will anyone anywhere in the U.S. be able to pay one basic fee to access information on the Internet from the most popular to the most arcane content providers? If all indications are correct, probably not. ISPs will increasingly decide on what … Read More

Big Money & Lies: Incumbent Cable Monopolies Try To Confuse Fort Collins, Colo. Voters

Date: 25 Oct 2017 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

With their back against the wall, Comcast is pulling out it’s well manicured, sharp claws in Fort Collins, Colorado. Voters will be asked to approve measure 2B on November 7th, which would allow the city to take steps toward establishing their own municipal telecommunications utility. In order to preserve the lack of competition, incumbent Internet access … Read More

Energy and Policy Institute Exposes Three Ways Electric Utilities Stomp Innovation and Competition

Date: 15 Aug 2017 | posted in: Energy | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

If you work to secure Americans’ rights to solar energy or to accelerate the deployment of inexpensive renewable energy, you understand that not everyone is in favor. In particular, incumbent electric utilities tend to oppose competition in their (often monopoly) share of the electricity market. Where competition exists, it is plagued by unfairness. Below, we share … Read More

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