Local Energy Rules

Monopoly utilities give distributed energy advocates little time to celebrate their victories. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Pouya Najmaie, Policy and Regulatory Director at Cooperative Energy Futures. They discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Minnesota’s community solar program, its many regulatory and legislative changes over the years, and how utility Xcel Energy has found a new way to try to suppress distributed generation. Explore more resources at the link below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/10-years-minnesota-community-solar-ler202/

Monopoly energy utilities have accrued vast service territories and extraordinary financial power — which they have used to purchase political power. At this point, state regulatory and legislative bodies can only do so much to rein them in. In this episode from the Local Energy Rules archive, host John Farrell speaks with Howard Crystal and Liz Veazey. Crystal, Legal Director of the Energy Justice Program at the Center for Biological Diversity, and Veazey, Policy and Rural Energy Director at Solar United Neighbors, were two cosigners on a petition to the Federal Trade Commission, along with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Crystal and Veazey explain the petition and why electric utility practices require federal investigation. ILSR first published this interview in June of 2022. Explore more resources at the link below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/archive-ftc-petition-utility-abuses-ler201/

Local Energy Rules is celebrating a milestone! For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell reflects on 10 years of making the podcast, what he has learned from over 200 guests, and answers some listener questions. Explore more resources at the link below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/200-episodes-10-lessons-ler200/

With a little help from utilities, home energy upgrades can pay for themselves. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Matt Flaherty, Director of Building Decarbonization at Clean Energy Works. They discuss the barriers to home energy upgrades, how inclusive utility investment is a scalable solution that addresses many of these barriers, and what it will take to get utilities on board with on-bill financing. Explore more resources at the link below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/scaling-up-home-energy-investment-ler199/

Can for-profit gas utilities be trusted to plan their own stagnation? For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Ben Kuebrich, Public Advocate for the Alliance for a Green Economy. They discuss New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, what to expect when gas utilities do their own decarbonization planning, and how states and clean energy advocates can actually address methane gas use in the buildings sector. Explore more resources at the link below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/loopholes-scams-ny-gas-plans-ler198/

Utilities regularly spend millions of dollars to get their way. When their monopoly status is on the line, they pull out all of the stops. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Lucy Hochschartner, Deputy Campaign Director for Pine Tree Power. They discuss how public power would have been an improvement over Maine’s investor-owned utilities, yet didn’t receive the support of Maine voters on November 7th. Explore more resources at the link below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/utility-millions-popular-measure-maine-ler197/

This is a defining moment for rural communities and the clean energy transition. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Frances Sawyer, founder of Pleiades Strategy, and Maria McCoy, researcher at ILSR. They discuss ILSR’s new report on rural electric co-ops and how federal dollars can meet the growing momentum of co-op member-owners organizing around affordability, clean energy, and local control. Explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/rural-electric-coop-revival-ler196/

To protect competitive markets, we must quarantine regulated monopolies. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Lynne Kiesling, Director of the Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics at Northwestern University and Research professor at the University of Colorado Denver. Kiesling explains why allowing incumbent monopolies into new markets is too big of a risk for innovation and the public interest, particularly in the context of Xcel Energy’s major electric vehicle charging proposal. Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/stopping-the-spread-of-monopolies-ler195/

Consumers pay for a lot of things on their utility bills. In Colorado, legislators took political lobbying out of the equation. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Steve Fenberg, the Colorado Senate President representing Boulder County. They discuss Colorado’s Senate Bill 291, which changed incentives in the investor-owned utility business model to protect Colorado consumers from high fossil fuel costs and protects captive customers from paying for the utility to lobby against their own interests. Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/colorado-bill-utility-accountability-ler194/

When it comes to distributed solar policy, Indiana took one step back before ever taking two steps forward. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Ben Inskeep, Program Director at Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana. The Citizens Action Coalition is a non-profit consumer advocacy organization working broadly across energy and environmental issues. Farrell and Inskeep discuss Indiana’s backward solar policy, why local solar is a threat to utilities, and how to go up against the powerful entrenched interests of monopolies. Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/indiana-dismantles-rooftop-solar/

For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Sachu Constantine, Executive Director of Vote Solar. They discuss the obstacles and opportunities arising for the electric grid as customers become generators and what California got wrong in its 2022 net metering decision. Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/california-rooftop-solar-nem-ler192/

Creating a program that is justice driven, accountable, community powered, and has multiple benefits is a tall order. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Maria Sipin, volunteer committee member for the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund. They discuss what the fund has accomplished, how volunteers from the community have shaped the fund’s priorities, and how to evaluate project success. Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/portland-funds-community-clean-energy-ler190/

Some utility customers aren’t getting what they pay for. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Alex Hill, Research Director at We the People Michigan. They discuss a report on utility redlining in electric distribution, the impacts of inadequate grid infrastructure, and how the report helped make a case against the utility’s proposed rate increase. Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/utilities-neglect-customers-ler189/

Across the country, clean energy development is at an all-time high. Is your state fair and transparent when it comes to interconnecting these new resources? For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Mari Hernandez, Assistant Director, Regulatory Program at the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). IREC, along with partner Vote Solar, has graded states based on their policies that facilitate interconnection and streamline clean energy adoption. Hernandez explains why we need transparent and efficient interconnection standards, how the regulatory landscape can adapt to new technologies, and where IREC’s Freeing the Grid initiative can help. Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/interconnection-standards-freeing-grid-ler188/

This lobbyist is on the house — your house. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Tony Bartelme, projects writer for Charleston’s The Post and Courier. They discuss 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. Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/utilities-gamble-household-money-ler187/

The largest energy decisions may be out of local hands, but cities can influence the outcomes. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Stacy Miller, Sustainability Program Coordinator for the City of Minneapolis. City officials created the position and hired Miller four years ago when they realized that state and utility decision-making could make or break their ambitious climate action goals. Miller explains how she represents the city of Minneapolis in state forums, including the Public Utilities Commission, and what’s at stake in decisions made by the state. Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/cities-steer-state-action-ler186/

In 2023, Minnesota became the latest state to adopt a 100 percent clean energy standard — but does the standard do enough for energy justice? For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Haley Havens, Senior Research and Operations Associate at the Initiative for Energy Justice (IEJ). IEJ has created a scorecard that evaluates equity in state renewable energy standards. Havens and Farrell discuss the ways that states can advance equity through their clean energy standards and how Minnesota’s 2023 standard stacks up. Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/scoring-justice-clean-energy-standards-ler185/

Municipalization: many have tried, but few have succeeded. For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Randy Knight, city manager of Winter Park, Florida. Having taken over its electric utility in 2005, Winter Park is the only sizable city to successfully municipalize in the last two decades. Knight explains how the city overcame utility opposition and shares his advice to other cities investigating public power. This is the full interview that was partially released in part two of The Promise and Peril of Publicly-Owned Power series. Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/winter-park-public-power-takeover-ler184/

10 million customers depend on their essential public service, yet decisions are made behind closed doors. What has gone wrong with Tennessee Valley Authority? For this episode of the Local Energy Rules Podcast, host John Farrell is joined by Maggie Shober, Director of Utility Reform for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. They discuss how the Tennessee Valley Authority operates like a for-profit utility, despite its public ownership. This is the full interview that was partially released in part five of The Promise and Peril of Publicly-Owned Power series. Listen to the full episode and explore more resources below — including a transcript and summary of the conversation. https://ilsr.org/articles/tennessee-valley-unchecked-authority-ler183/