Can you put cankles on a ship? 🤣

Can’t wait to see the navy’s new fat and slow battleship fleet.

Pretty good summary of the issues with Xcel Energy's plan to own batteries on customer property across their Minnesota service territory #batteries #utility #distributed

A helpful reminder that it is possible to use policy (tariffs, ending incentives) to kill a market (EVs in the U.S.), even when the product is far superior to what it is replacing.

Public power = affordability. "In 1974, the upstate [NY] town of Massena voted decisively to buy out its grid operator, Niagara Mohawk. After seven years...the town succeeded in taking control of the utility. Immediately, energy prices dropped between 20 and 26 percent"

Love this data viz of community #solar development in the U.S. Watch the incredible growth of this community-centered, bill-reducing approach to electricity production!

1. New York’s affordability crisis flows from a deeper problem: essential systems — groceries, energy, Internet, banking, healthcare — have consolidated in the hands of distant corporations. Today, ILSR sent the Mamdani team a memo laying out policies to reclaim local control.

Don't miss the campaign in New York to take over the utility that erroneously billed tens of thousands of customers!

Where are public power campaigns active to change electric utilities from private to public hands? ILSR has the map (and you can tell us what we've missed!) vist.ly/4iw4s

Profit margins for CA utilities are too high. Fair profits could save households $455/yr. That's real money for groceries, rent, healthcare. Watch @SierraClub's new explainer to see how @californiapuc can deliver savings. Then demand action by Dec. 18. 🔗 vist.ly/4ikyv

Billions in utility profits against 1 in 5 folks unable to pay the bills. Seems like it should be an easy choice for the @californiapuc

🤮🤮🤮 @ronanfarrow.bsky.social lays out how captive utility customers across the U.S. are being compelled to finance Wall Street acquisitions by private equity. If you think your bill is high now, just wait until BlackRock owns your power company: vist.ly/4i65t

Why did we elect an old man with a memory this bad?

"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.

Great question. Follow the money...

"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!

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

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

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!

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?

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!

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.

Three ways we could act to lower electricity bills now:

Hey #EV friends. I had someone recommend this adapter for plugging a 120-volt car charger into a 240v dryer outlet. N14-50P. Am I right that the adapter basically restricts the total amps to 20 but at 240v, and then the car cable steps the voltage down to 120v? www.amazon.com/WYM-world-N1...

Good. It's helpful for people to see the consequences of politically motivated policing of street art: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/u...

Join together, go solar, fight for solar rights. It's a beautiful mantra for a terrific approach to addressing energy affordability through local #solar. I'm so please to be a board member at Solar United Neighbors. vist.ly/4evdh

TL;DR: cut utility profits, curtail wild utility spending, build more distributed energy.

I'm delighted to have the chance to work with Mary Rafferty and Common Charge on lowering electricity prices and customer bills with smart investments in distributed energy resources.

For anyone wondering what's in the GOP plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, please just Google the term vaporware

Here's the clean energy news you need to know today: ⚖️Clean energy groups sue Trump administration over climate project cuts 🏭 Xcel Energy wants keep its Comanche coal plant operating past its planned retirement ☀️ Sunrun reports 106,000 customers enrolled in its virtual power plant programs

Don't be Charlie Brown, senators.

Would you like to save $1600 on your annual electric costs and join millions of Americans in collectively saving over $1 trillion? Then let's start bulldozing permitting barriers to rooftop solar: vist.ly/4dpm6 @michael-thomas.bsky.social

The price of fame...

I've heard of word salad, but thanks to our most smartest president, I was today years old when I found out about number salad: youtu.be/F0cHNY8qW7o?...

Now on to starving American children by refusing to fund SNAP!

The death party

Here's an option

We know the economy is bad, but we use dollars in the U.S., not pounds.

How's this for energy abundance? Millions of Aussies will start receiving three hours of free power each day in 2026. This is what happens when you make rooftop solar less than a buck a watt!! "Rooftop solar installations cost about $840 (U.S.) per kilowatt of capacity before rebates." 🤯 🔌💡

I am SHOCKED that Trump just made up a reason to invade Portland with federal troops. SHOCKED.