Who is really the stakeholder?

Actual electric energy customers or "grassroots" non-profits?

“The Ratepayers are the true stakeholders of the grid; we pay for it. It’s our time that our voices are heard.”

-

Meredith Angwin

in Shorting the Grid: The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid¹

“Ratepayer” is electric utility lingo for you, the customer - the human being who pays for the wonderful luxury of cost-effective, dependable and reliable electricity.

But cost-effective, dependable and reliable electricity is under threat in many areas of the United States including the Centennial State (Colorado) where unrealistic renewable energy mandates, in part pushed by a certain political ideology plus what

Robert Bryce

calls the dark money funded “anti-industry industry” have a greater voice than mere “ratepayers.”

The Anti-Industry Industry

The Dark Money Behind The Gas Bans

Cory Gaines

who writes the Colorado Accountability Project Substack published today a home run of electric energy issues in the state of Colorado - a state that’s sadly looking more and more like California each day when it comes to energy policy. The Californication of the electric grid in Colorado is looming with increasing rates along with less reliable electric service impacting the wallets of the state’s citizens.

Customer of Black Hills Energy? Let them hear you on price increases! Southwest Energy Efficiency Project is a lobbyist, not a neutral source. Armstrong's quasi-review of LaRue's book

One, is of a proposed electric rate increase for customers in the state of Black Hills Energy one of two Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs) that operates in the state. (The other is Xcel Energy while the rest of the state is either served by municipal utilities or rural cooperatives.) IOUs are publicly traded companies and thus have an obligation to deliver value to their shareholders usually in the form of dividends and stock value appreciation.

Per the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC), the state agency that regulates IOUs including their rates, Black Hills Energy Customers can expect, if the increases are approved, are the following:

*An increase in an average monthly bill increase for residential customers of about $15 per month from $109.67 per month to $124.78 per month (approximately 13.8%); and,

*An average monthly bill increase for small commercial customers of $23.03 from $242.38 to $265.41 per month (approximately 9.5%).

It should be noted that the PUC is led by appointees selected by the State Governor and in the case of Jared Polis, these individuals likely serve him and his interests over the people of Colorado.

One of the points

Meredith Angwin

makes in the conclusion of Shorting the Grid is the need for grassroots advocacy writing, “I believe that steady grassroots advocacy is the way to change society. Grassroots advocacy at a state PUC is comparatively easy. PUCs often have open hearings and take comments from the public.”

The Colorado PUC held three previous meetings to address Black Hills Energy’s proposed rate increases which Pueblo City Council President, Mark Aliff said in a KOAA News article last would be “an economic death sentence.”

The final public meeting for comments is tomorrow (or likely today, as many readers are probably not late up at night reading this) December 5th from 4 to 7pm. In reality, anybody can attend, but this is really for actual Black Hills Energy customers who will be the ones paying if the rates increases are indeed approved by the PUC.

Second is Corey’s dive into an entity called the Southwest Energy Efficiency Program (SWEEP) which he notes gets favorable treatment from some of the “media” in Colorado who’ve labeled them as a “grassroots” organization.

A name such as Southwest Energy Efficiency Program (SWEEP) may sound innocent enough. Energy efficiency? That term invokes rebates for new appliances, switching out incandescent bulbs for CFLs or LEDs, or even swapping out some shower heads or installing a “smart thermostat.” “Program” may imply that it’s some sort of government-funded program meant to help out the people.

The use of such innocent sounding names invokes a quote from the character Yuri Orlov, the main character who portrayed an arms dealer in the film Lord of War.

Every faction in Africa calls themselves by these noble names - Liberation this, Patriotic that, Democratic Republic of something-or-other... I guess they can't own up to what they usually are: the Federation of Worse Oppressors Than the Last Bunch of Oppressors. Often, the most barbaric atrocities occur when both combatants proclaim themselves Freedom Fighters.

But in reality as Corey points out SWEEP are well-funded 501(c)(3) non-profit based in Boulder which alone should raise red flags. (Boulder also is home Rocky Mountain Institute, another innocent sounding organization started by Amory Lovins.) SWEEPs Form 990s also indicate they receives "substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or from the general public described in section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi).” That’s pretty common for non-profits and on its face isn’t necessarily anything indicting but at the end of the day, normal everyday taxpayers are contributing (likely unknowingly) to this organization which isn’t necessarily lobbying or advocating in their favor.

Corey also tried to reach out to someone at SWEEP for details on their funding as only limited information is available in the IRS Form 990s. SWEEP’s “financial reports” simply link to those Form 990s. This should raise a red flag in anybody interested in transparency. That’s of course their right, but what does SWEEP have to hide?

There’s no evidence right now that SWEEP have any involvement with the Black Hills Energy rate raise proposal as these proposals come directly from the utilities with some sort of statement such as “our operational costs have gone up and we can’t make our PUC-guaranteed rate of return without an increase,” or “we have some fancy new expensive project we want/need/are mandated to build and we need don’t want to ask our shareholders to pay for it.” Those fancy new expensive projects are often the renewable energy generators and the much-needed transmission lines to carry the energy they (sometimes) generate. Those costs get passed down multiple times to the “ratepayer” in the form of higher rates and less reliable electricity but only after PUC approval.

Virtually all electric utilities are being pressured by the anti-industry industry (and governments) to tailor their business operations in their favor for the things SWEEP and related organizations want (“renewable energy,” EV and heat pump mandates, and in the case of SWEEP - also abolishing minimum parking requirements in Longmont). They also seem to be gleeful of Governor Polis’ silly transportation plan which will likely result in more unsafe “protected” bike lanes and other useless anti-motoring transportation projects that threaten the working and middle class.

Could you really call SWEEP “grassroots” though as both they and some of the Colorado media have labeled them?

SWEEP insist on that label, but as Corey points out, they’re really more of a trade organization of mostly non-Colorado companies and organizations.

In other words they very much fall into Bryce’s “anti-industry” and “dark-money” labels.

Meredith is correct in saying the “ratepayers” are the actual stakeholders of the grid but with the proliferation of these organizations who wear the skinsuit of the stakeholders along with some of the media practically acting as their PR departments getting one’s voice heard is an uphill battle.

1.

“Meredith Angwin – Shorting the Grid”, by Roger Caiazza