May 15, 2024
Want to Lower Your Power Bills and Help Your State Fight Climate Change? Here’s Who to Talk to
In public utility commissions, we’re helping communities push for clean, affordable electricity for all. Here's what you should know about these key decision makers.
In a conference room somewhere in your state, a small, largely unseen group of people is casting votes that could make or break the clean energy transition.
You’ve probably never heard their names, and you might not even know the name of the agency they’re running: the state public utility commission (PUC). Fossil fuel interests would love to keep it that way.
PUCs regulate utilities. (In some states, they have other names, like public service commissions, or PSCs.) They determine the cost of your gas and electricity bills, and in many states, where your power comes from, whether it’s fossil fuels, hydroelectricity, or renewables like wind and solar.
These state regulators have an enormous opportunity to speed the transition away from coal and gas, drive the buildout of clean energy, alleviate the climate crisis, and ensure we have affordable and reliable electricity.
In almost all states, community members have the right to comment at PUC meetings. But in the room where it happens, these commissions are often hearing from slick utility lawyers and consultants whose greenwashing would result in decades of dirty infrastructure that our planet cannot afford.
Utilities too often tend to argue for old, dirty sources of power over renewables (more on this below). And well-resourced utilities can afford to hire experts to help them navigate the highly technical PUC proceedings, meaning that they have a huge advantage in making their case.
Earthjustice is one of the few organizations with the expertise to rise to the challenge of opposing the utilities. Our attorneys push back on those big-money arguments at PUC hearings, advocating for commissioners to choose clean, energy efficient solutions that yield financial and environmental benefits to everyone, instead of throwing a lifeline to fossil fuels.
Getting input from the public is therefore essential to informing commissioners about their constituents’ desire for clean energy. When the public isn't in the room, you can rest assured that profit-driven utilities are in there, making a case for expensive, polluting fossil fuels that their customers would be forced to pay for.
A community member speaks at a West Virginia Public Service Commission hearing (above and below) in 2017 to oppose the sale of the Pleasants Power Plant. If the scheme had succeeded, Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers would have assumed all of the plant’s costs and financial risks, while FirstEnergy and its shareholders would receive a guaranteed revenue stream. More than 2,500 residents, businesses, and nonprofits successfully opposed the Pleasants Power Plant sale by speaking at the PSC’s three public hearings, filing letters of protest with the PSC, writing letters to the editor, and more. (Roger May for Earthjustice)
Right now, there’s a big discrepancy between who gets to determine the cost of electricity and who bears the biggest burden of paying for it.
Over three-quarters of PUC commissioners are white, and nearly two-thirds are men. Yet low-income, Black, Hispanic, and Native American households all face dramatically higher energy burdens — spending a greater portion of their income on energy bills — than the average household.
Energy burden can force people to make excruciating choices, like keeping homes at an unhealthy temperature to save on utility bills or reducing important expenses like food or medicine.
That’s why it’s incredibly important that people know what’s going on at their state PUC, and that they have a say in dirty energy projects that could inflate their bill. Earthjustice fights rate increases, holds utilities accountable, and defends and expands energy efficiency programs.
Workers at the California Independent System Operator monitor the state's high-voltage transmission grid. (Rolf Schulten / ullstein bild via Getty Images)
While utilities are starting to build utility-scale solar, wind, and storage (though not nearly as quickly as needed to address climate change), many try to maintain their monopoly on generating power by establishing barriers to renters, homeowners, or businesses from pursuing clean energy on their own.
For example, utilities often seek to increase monthly charges for solar panel-owning customers and refuse to compensate them fairly for the extra energy they produce.
Many utilities keep pushing to construct long-lived methane gas infrastructure that will lock us into a future of explosive gas lines, polluting power plants, and climate catastrophe. This is their perverse response to the fact that they make a guaranteed profit on every dollar spent on infrastructure, like billion-dollar gas plants whose presumed "useful life” stretches out for decades. Since utilities are privately owned by shareholders who are looking to make a profit, there is every incentive for them to convince PUCs that they need to keep building methane gas infrastructure, regardless of public demand, harm to the planet, or better alternatives.
Wind turbine construction near Mountainair, New Mexico. (Jeff Barger / Construction Photography / Avalon / Getty Images)
Together, we are making big strides in the following areas:
Speeding the transition to clean energy: We have pushed 158 coal-fired power units in 23 states into early retirement and we challenge utility plans to keep investing in expensive, uneconomical fossil fuel plants.
- The cost of new clean energy is typically cheaper than methane gas and coal — and it has the further benefits of addressing the climate crisis and not polluting communities.
- Money from the Inflation Reduction Act — the largest investment in clean energy ever — sweetens the pot further, something we make sure utility regulators are factoring into decisions about what power mix to approve.
- Additionally, we advocate for distributed energy resources like rooftop solar, battery storage, and electric vehicles that can further bring down costs and increase reliability.
- Finally, the cheapest, cleanest energy of all is the energy we do not need, which is why we push for energy efficiency measures and incentives.
Advancing energy justice: We help residents challenge rate increases and harmful fixed charges sought by utilities. Our current fossil fuel-burning power system particularly burdens low-income communities with unaffordable bills and deadly pollution.
- We are advancing a clean energy future that doesn’t replicate the inequities of the past. We are pushing to reduce energy burdens (the percent of income spent on energy) and provide just transitions for communities whose economies were built around dirty energy.
- In our cases, we expand and improve energy efficiency and electrification programs, with a particular focus on making sure these programs reach low-income residential customers such as people who may need home repairs before they can weatherize their home or replace gas appliances.
- We also push for bill assistance and against power shut offs.
- We fight efforts by utilities to stick their customers with the tab for their lobbying and marketing – especially when it’s aimed at extending fossil fuels.
Earthjustice attorney Shannon Fisk (center) at a Ohio Public Utilities Commission proceeding to fight utility proposals that would cost customers billions of dollars while guaranteeing profits for corporate shareholders. (Years of Living Dangerously)
Electrifying our lives: As power generation gets cleaner, we want everyone to be able to plug into it, removing pollution and high costs from our daily lives.
- We are working on building electrification by ensuring utilities are incentivizing electric appliances like heat pumps and induction stoves, building on the significant incentives offered by the IRA.
- We fight efforts by gas utilities to extend gas infrastructure to new housing developments.
- And we also push some utilities to provide rebates or other incentives for low-income customers to purchase electric appliances and vehicles.
Creating a more resilient power system: The energy system we are building is not only clean but decentralized and resilient — local solar power during the day, energy storage at night, and programs and appliances to manage demand and reduce peak load. The energy system of the future will be less dependent on large centralized power and more resilient in disasters and extreme weather.
Sonny Ashby, left, and Robby Brian, of Alaska Plumbing and Heating, install a heat pump in Juneau, Alaska. (Michael Penn for Earthjustice)
That’s why Earthjustice is in those rooms across the country, using our skills as litigators and our vast experience on energy issues to highlight the costs of coal and gas, make the case for affordable clean energy, and expand the range of options the PUCs consider as they architect everyone’s green future.
Powering up the Clean Energy Transition
See how we are working in your state’s public utility commission for a faster, fairer transition to clean energy.
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Alaska’s potential for clean energy is vast, yet utilities are planning to import liquified natural gas, which would significantly raise rates for customers. Earthjustice is intervening before the Regulatory Commission of Alaska. Read more & get involved.
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Arizona ranks second in the country for solar potential, but coal still provides more electricity than solar. Earthjustice represented Vote Solar before the Arizona Corporation Commission to defend against utility attacks on rooftop solar. Read more & get involved.
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California was Earthjustice’s proving grounds to argue in front of public utility commissions for cleaner, more equitable energy policies. Since 2010, we have pushed the California Public Utilities Commission to rethink how the state generates electricity. Read more.
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Colorado is rapidly cleaning up its power sector. We’ve taken on more than 40 cases before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission over the past decade, leveraging aggressive goals set by the state legislature to push for progress. Read more & get involved.
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In Washington, D.C., we’re taking a two-pronged approach by working to support the district’s electrification efforts and fight investments in gas. Read more.
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Florida boasts extraordinary potential for clean energy but remains stuck with fossil fuels and some of the highest energy bills in the country. We’re working in the Florida Public Service Commission to reduce costs and ensure the benefits of clean energy are equitably shared. Read more & get involved.
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We played a key role in moving Hawaiʻi toward a 100% renewable mandate for electricity — and in establishing a “performance-based regulation” system that rewards the utility based on how well it serves the public, rather than how much money it spends. Read more.
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Since 2012, Earthjustice has been litigating at the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, the courts, and federal agencies to retire existing coal, challenge proposed new methane gas, and advance clean energy investments. ranks third in the country for coal consumption. Read more & get involved.
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Iowa has more than 6,000 wind turbines, providing nearly two-thirds of its electricity, making it second only to Texas in the amount of power produced from wind. We went before the Iowa Utilities Board to fight for fair pricing of renewable power and more. Read more.
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In Kansas, we’re working to create a level playing field for clean energy — including through an access to clean energy case that went all the way up to the Kansas Supreme Court. (We won.) Read more & get involved.
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In Kentucky, public participation in the Public Service Commission process and hundreds of pages of expert technical comments led to significant progress for clean energy and low-income customers. Read more & get involved.
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Earthjustice has made significant strides to spur the clean energy transition in Louisiana while battling plans by energy utilities to replace coal with gas. Read more.
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Earthjustice is helping Maryland establish itself as a leader in the nation’s clean energy transition with significant strides in solar and wind energy, and recently, zero-emissions truck requirements. Read more & get involved.
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Michigan will end burning of coal for electricity in less than a decade — a timeline accelerated thanks to our work. Our advocacy at the Michigan Public Service Commission brought energy efficiency programs to Flint and other communities, including one that saved customers $3 for every $1 invested. Read more.
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Minnesota declared that 100% of electricity for use in the state must be from carbon-free resources by 2040. We are advocating for ways to increase local and independently-owned renewable power and to reduce energy demand. Read more & get involved.
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In Montana, we successfully fought up to the state’s highest court to enforce a state law that required the utility NorthWestern Energy to invest in local community renewable energy projects. Now, the Montana Public Service Commission will decide on an appropriate penalty. Read more.
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In Nevada, we helped revitalize Nevada’s solar industry after punitive rates imposed on customers started cratering the rooftop solar industry. Read more & get involved.
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In New Mexico, we have been successfully involved with the New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission on improving access to transportation for low-income residents, challenging discriminatory fees against rooftop solar customers, and more. Read more & get involved.
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After successfully working to increase public input at the New York Public Service Commission, we’re now using the Empire State’s ambitious climate law to phase out fossil fuels faster and ensure the transition doesn’t harm vulnerable communities. Read more.
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While Oregon passed legislation aimed at hastening the transition to clean energy, the state’s largest gas utilities poured vast sums into opposing local electrification. We’ve fought back by taking on gas utilities in three separate rate case proceedings before Oregon’s Public Utility Commission. Read more.
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Our Pennsylvania work has been based in Philadelphia, which has the highest poverty rate among major U.S. cities. Utilities have sought to increase customer bills. But, together with our clients and partners, we have fought for climate and energy justice — and won. Read more & get involved.
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In Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria underscored the need to build distributed rooftop solar and storage systems. We take part in proceedings of the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau to accelerate Puerto Rico’s goal of reaching 100% clean energy by 2050. Read more.
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Texas may be known for oil, but it leads the country in wind power. Read more.
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Washington passed legislation requiring utilities to transition to 100% clean energy by 2045 and to ensure that transition is equitable. Our work before the Utility and Transportation Commission has energized both parts of that mandate. Read more.
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West Virginia is the most coal-dependent state in the country. We’ve represented local groups before the Public Service Commission of West Virginia to defend energy efficiency programs, defeat schemes to prop up coal plants, and foster the continued growth of rooftop solar. Read more & get involved.
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In Wisconsin, Earthjustice is advocating for solar energy users, including stopping a proposed expansion of a utility program that discriminated against customers who own their own rooftop solar panels. Read more & get involved.
Understanding Public Utility Commissions
What happens at PUCs, and how it affects you
Utilities submit plans for how to generate power and ask to raise rates.
Earthjustice intervenes on behalf of local clients to speed the transition to cheaper, cleaner energy and a more just power system.
The PUC hears comments from the public, including Earthjustice partners. Then, Earthjustice and other parties submit evidence and cross-examine witnesses in a public legal proceeding.
PUC commissioners vote and issue a decision, approving or denying parts of the utilities’ proposed plans.
By countering utilities at PUCs, Earthjustice and our partners have pushed states across the country to make a faster, more affordable transition to clean energy.
Alison Cagle is a writer at Earthjustice. She tells the stories of the earth: the systems that govern it, the ripple effects of those systems, and the people who are fighting to change them — to protect our planet and all its inhabitants.
Earthjustice’s Clean Energy Program uses the power of the law and the strength of partnership to accelerate the transition to 100% clean energy.