John Farrell

https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/aes-indiana-electricity-rate-hike/

"You can't squeeze blood from a stone...just for the profit of a #monopoly utility company," says Indianapolis city council member, in reaction to a proposal from #utility AES Indiana that would cumulatively raise rates by over 50 percent since 2020.

A sweeping investigation from ILSR reveals how Amazon is fleecing school and city budgets when independent suppliers could offer better deals: vist.ly/4hdfx

There's no better way to jack up gas prices than letting carmakers sell you shit that goes less distance for the same gallon.

I'm less confident about that. Given that all distribution utilities have monopoly, distinct service territories, making comparisons on performance metrics on a 1-1 basis seems like it would be challenging.

IOUs also tend to lag on reliability compared to public power entities by a significant margin. I don't recall where rural electric cooperatives measure up. I don't know that there's a good universal database of those measures like SAIDI and SAIFI.

I don't think I've ever seen a cost of service study or similar that would do it. However, there's ample evidence of the higher costs for IOUs to make capital investments compared to the capital and finance options of public or member-owned utilities.

Screenshot of Inside Climate News headline - Why Are Rates Rising Faster at Investor-Owned Utilities Than at Public Utilities?

Great question. Follow the money...

https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/austin-energy-adds-188-megawatts-of-local-solar

Dad and daughter holding a solar panel in front of a house (credit: Austin Energy)

"Local #solar is a cornerstone of Austin's clean energy future" says publicly owned utility serving Austin, Texas. We need a lot more utilities, public and private, seeing the light!

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/11/20/ohio-house-passes-1-5-gw-community-solar-pilot-program/

Screenshot of PV Magazine story about Ohio bill for community solar

Community solar on the march! Legislation advances with wide majorities in Ohio! h/t Ryan Kennedy @PVmagazine.

How could we reform our permitting regime to match what Australia does? It sounds like it would involve an installer certification/training and then essentially zero local approval authority. Is that right? Would U.S. cities go along?

https://tribalbusinessnews.com/sections/energy/15367-small-but-mighty-small-scale-projects-keep-renewable-energy-momentum-as-federal-money-falters

We've been saying it for years! h/t @chezident.bsky.social

What's the deal with balcony solar? Cora Stryker joins me to explain how "plug-in" solar took Europe by storm and is finally, via Utah (?), making its way to America.

Today on Volts: I've had more requests to cover this than almost any other topic in the pod's history, so now, at long last, balcony solar! We dig into how "plug-in solar" took off in Europe & how it's making its way to the US, starting in Utah. Backyard DIY types rejoice!

Honestly, a set of weights and an online gym membership (like Apple Fitness) are enough routine (and the right level of social connection) for me.

Yes. And then nationalize the utilities so that this progressive insurance doesn't allow utilities to continue socializing risk and privatizing profits.

I hope the Colorado Public Utilities Commission is planning to make Xcel Energy shareholders eat the breakdown costs. There was an extensive record to oppose building this plant in the first place.

My question for 2026: Will actual data center demand or speculative data center demand cause more harm to electricity consumers?

Better than in your ears!

What If Utilities Just Made Less Money? California energy companies are asking for permission to take in more revenue. Consumer advocates are having none of it.

What If Utilities Just Made Less Money? A question that's right up there with "why do we regulate utilities like it's still 1920?"

This is 100% the right question to ask about our bizarre monopoly for-profit utility system. Thank you, @emilypont.bsky.social!

FERC dismisses cost allocation complaint over ‘self-planned’ AEP transmission projects Kentucky Power is part of a broader transmission network of American Electric Power utilities and therefore benefits from those utilities’ local transmission projects, FERC said.

A casualty of behemoth utility parent companies with subsidiaries in multiple states. The "regulator" in a regulated monopoly industry should not have to appeal to a higher power to protect customers in their own state, but that's the system that has been created (and in this case, AEP won):

Chattanooga’s small municipal utility is doing big things with batteries.

3) Unblock local power and storage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Sfxxx9m5U

2) Pay utilities for performance (and not just capital expenditure)

1) Cut runaway utility profit rates

Three ways we could act to lower electricity bills now:

In other words, if you had a regular 120v outlet nearby, there’s no point in having this adapter?