The Center for Biological Diversity has asked federal energy regulators to stop utilities from charging customers for their payments to industry groups that are “undermining the renewable energy transition.” The practice “violates ratepayers’ First Amendment rights,” the Center said.
The Center made the request in a letter to commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and in comments in a FERC proceeding. Rooftop solar advocacy groups Vote Solar, Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Solar United Neighbors signed on to the letter.
It is “common” among utilities to charge ratepayers for “hundreds of thousands, and even millions, of dollars” of utility dues to the industry association Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the Center said in its comments. In one example, the Center said that EEI ran a multi-day training session for utility executives to learn how to defeat state and local clean energy policies, citing research by the Energy and Policy Institute. EEI has an annual budget of about $90 million.
The Harvard Electricity Law Initiative said in comments to FERC that EEI has “opposed net metering rules or bills through social media campaigns that have targeted people in Maine, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Kentucky.” In Arizona and Michigan, the Initiative said, utilities have “more directly funded campaigns against various net metering proposals, or have primed the public to oppose policies favorable to rooftop solar.”
Also submitting comments supporting a change in FERC policy were the attorneys general of Michigan, Massachusetts, and Virginia, and the Louisiana Public Service Commission, said attorney Jessica Bell on Twitter.
FERC initiated its proceeding to seek comment on the recovery and reporting of industry dues and expenses, in response to a March 2021 petition from the Center for Biological Diversity.
EEI and three other trade associations “simply declined to respond” to the “specific questions” FERC had asked them in the proceeding, said Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard’s initiative, on Twitter.
If FERC made the rule change requested by rooftop solar advocates, investor-owned utilities could still fund anti-solar advocacy, but only at the expense of their shareholders, not their customers.
Of FERC’s five commissioners, currently three are Democrats and two are Republicans.
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I look for SOP (STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES) for cleaning solar panels.
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This is all one needs to know about these people and their monopolies –
EEI ran a multi-day training session for utility executives to learn how to defeat state and local clean energy policies
EEI has “opposed net metering rules or bills through social media campaigns that have targeted people in Maine, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Kentucky.” In Arizona and Michigan, the Initiative said, utilities have “more directly funded campaigns against various net metering proposals, or have primed the public to oppose policies favorable to rooftop solar.”
EEI and three other trade associations “simply declined to respond” to the “specific questions” FERC had asked them in the proceeding
If FERC made the rule change requested by rooftop solar advocates, investor-owned utilities could still fund anti-solar advocacy, but only at the expense of their shareholders, not their customers.
The people running the monopolies are scared. We’ll defeat them in the long run.
Nothing says you MUST buy electricity from Utilities, yet the demand you do. Guess what, you do not have to if you can find an alternative to power your home or business, do it. The secret is doing it cheaper. Off grid solar with lead acid batteries is cheaper now and, in the future, the solid-state batteries or other chemistries may be cheaper still. Going on-grid may have it’s advantages by not needing to buy and maintain batteries but if the utilities end NEM tariffs, going off-grid will be the only choice.
I agree Edward but LiFePO4 batteries are already cheaper than Pb-acid in the long run. You get more capacity out of them from the get-go and then you get many more cycles and therefore, a much longer life time from them as well. Plus, they’re much easier to handle, being so much lighter. If you’re into doing it yourself, you can purchase the cells and BMS and build a battery for around 17 to 18 cents per watt-hour. So you can build a 10KWh battery for around $1,700 – $1,800. There are many people doing this and some have great DIY videos on YT, showing where to get the cells and the inverters, and how to put it all together. It gets cheaper and easier every year.