WASHINGTON – More than 300 community, energy justice and environmental groups urged today the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to address the behavior of utility companies that force millions of customers to fund anti-environment trade groups.
The groups wrote to the commission stating that current accounting practices, which allow utilities to use ratepayer funds for trade association dues or other advocacy spending, undermine climate justice and the transition towards renewable energy.
Gaby Sarri Tobar from the Center for Biological Diversity, a energy justice campaigner and activist for energy, said that FERC should stop forcing utility customers to bankroll trade organizations that push harmful, fossil-fuel-friendly policies. Ratepayers already face high utility bills, climate-driven disasters, and pollution that are prohibitively expensive. It is shameful that utilities also use customers’ money to support trade groups that impede the transition to renewable energy.
In December, FERC issued a Notice of inquiryThe commission asked for public input on a variety of questions, including how the commission should ensure transparency in customer charges and industry association expenses. This was in response the Centers 2021 petition that asked the commission amend its accounting system to require utilities either to show how funding these groups is in public interest or to provide funding from shareholders, rather than ratepayers.
Nathan Phelps (Regulator at Vote Solar), stated that utilities and utility regulators have a responsibility for acting in the best interests of their communities. It is against this obligation to force ratepayers unwittingly to fund climate-related actions. I hope FERC will take swift action to correct the wrongs caused by the current accounting system.
Utility customers are charged tens of millions of dollar each year by utilities to fund special interests or trade associations that engage in political activities. Many of these trade associations, including the Edison Electric Institute, American Gas Association and American Gas Association, work against public interest by actively thwarting the development of renewable energy and threatening public health.
Marquita Bradley, executive director at Sowing Justice, stated that for decades, communities of low income, Latinx, Indigenous, and Black have been disproportionately affected by environmental racism. Many times, fossil energy is hidden from the public by elected officials and federal government. It can also mask the toxic burden and its effect on public health and economic health in fenceline communities. Enough is enough. Utilities shouldn’t be supporting fossil fuel trade associations that cause us to get deeper into the climate crisis.
Today was the deadline to submit formal comments on FERCs notice. In its comments, the Center demanded that FERC change its accounting rules so that shareholders have to pay for industry association membership dues unless a utility can prove a benefit to ratepayers. It asked the commission for clarification on whether ratepayers could be liable for the costs of funding utilities’ efforts to undermine clean water and other environmental regulations.
John Farrell (director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Energy Democracy Initiative) said that the Center’s petition made a small request to federal regulators. It requested that FERC require utility companies to prove that their trade associations dues serve customers’ interests, rather than assuming that they do despite all the evidence.
Major electric utilities such as Southern Company, Duke Energy and DTE Energy use ratepayer money for dues to trade organizations that teach utility executives how they can best utilize their resources. Combat policies that promote renewable energy, Local communities should be preventedTo reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow climate changes, fracked gas must be phased out. undermine competitionThis could result in lower utility prices.
It is absurd and unfair that a portion our monthly bills go to the Edison Electric Institute. This trade association lobbies against our community’s wellbeing in every way,” said Bridget Vial (energy democracy organizer at Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition). This trade group is opposed to clean air protections. Even though Dearborn and Southwest Detroit breathe in toxic levels, it also opposed pandemic shutoff protections. FERC must act to ensure that we don’t have to pay the dues of corrupt fossil fuel industry lobbyists.
There is a growing movement against the practice of utilities charging ratepayers for advocacy that benefits the utility’s own interests and not ratepayers. This includes a DecisionKentucky utility regulators say ratepayers cannot be charged for EEI fees and a New York lawThis prevents utilities deducting payments to lobbyist trade groups.
