People-Utility-Playbook

Source: Energy Democracy Project

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Utility Justice

A collaborative grassroots movement of communities demanding justice from companies profiting off energy at the expense of climate-impacted communities.

Learning Resources

Learn about Utility Justice with Energy Allies!

VIDEO

Energy Democracy Project

Join Yesenia Rivera, Solar United Neighbors, and Nora Elmarzouky, Centennial Parkside CDC to learn more about the playbook and how you can use it to expand energy democracy in a community near you. Hosted by RE-AMP Network.

VIDEO

Last Week Tonight

Watch Last Week Tonight as John Oliver discuss the incredible power of utilities and how corrupt the government and commissions that ‘regulate’ them are.

GUIDE

Energy Democracy Project

Have you ever wondered who is in charge of your electricity? And why? Read the People’s Utility Justice Playbook anchored by Energy Allies’ Executive Director Yesenia Rivera to answer these questions.

GUIDE

Energy Democracy Project

This brief timeline tries to put the different institutions and infrastructure that make our energy system today within the context of political and power struggles. How our energy system runs or is governed is not a given. It is the product of over one hundred years of political struggle.

ARTICLE

Greentech Media

Unjust practices by for-profit solar companies and negative experiences with utilities create an environment where low income households are wary of commitments with third party energy entities.

REPORT

Chisholm Legacy Project

This report demystifies who controls critical energy decisions that directly impact our environmental and economic health and displays the inadequacy of racial and gender representation in utility governance.

REPORT

Energy and Policy Institute

How policymakers can protect customers from being forced to fund utilities’ political machines

REPORT

Center for Biological Diversity, Energy and Policy Institute, Bailout Watch

How Utilities Drive Shutoffs and Energy Injustice – an ongoing project tracking utility service disconnections and corporate profiteering

ARTICLE

CNN

Power outages to prevent fires in Northern California may continue for a decade

Investors Own Your Power

Investor-Owned Utilities display extreme earnings, similar demographics, and have a vested interest in maintaining control over the electrical grid. These entities distribute ‌72% of the country’s electricity. Their monopoly has led to a faltering grid infrastructure, which leads to more frequent blackout events and increased costs for developing community solar farms, which are, themselves, capable of improving grid resiliency. Utility service to communities of color is often disproportionately lacking due to the marginalized location of many of these neighborhoods and their presence within areas that are more prone to natural disasters; this elevates the risk of these grid investments. When blackouts hit, like the PG&E shut-off in 2019’s fire-season that cut power for 800,000 homes, those that can’t afford backup generators and batteries are left in exceedingly dangerous situations. These types of events are unfortunately becoming more likely and will undoubtedly have unequal effects across the impacted areas.

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