My key takeaway from last night: Utilities are deeply unpopular and honestly have been for some time. Politicians in both parties should be extremely wary of taking utility money and tying their political futures to these monopolies. It is… risky, to say the least.

Gravity: still exists.

There's a campaign underway in Michigan to rein in runaway political spending by monopoly utilities and certain other corporations. Half the funds raised so far to oppose the measure trace back to Consumers Energy. energyandpolicy.org/consumers-en...

Friends, advocates, candidates: there is no law requiring a Halloween reference on all of your public communications today. Not everything is either Spooky or Not-Spooky! Some things are orthogonal to the Spooky Spectrum!

I wonder (honestly!) how many of the 200 or so PUC commissioners in the US genuinely understand the “not a penny higher” bit as a part of their mandate that is legally equal in importance to the “sufficient to attract capital” bit.

GOP legislators in CT sought to oust Marissa Gillett, the chair of the PUC there, scapegoating her for high rates. Gillett had led a draft rate decision before departing. The final decision, decided w/o her, is now out. Result? A $37 million higher rate increase for customers.

May I present to you the investor-owned utility approach to rate case accounting, perfectly distilled. t.co/OY61zL9fCS

Black Box Rate Settlement

Today we are taking politics out of Californian’s utility bills and putting an end to the use of ratepayer funds for the political and promotional benefit of IOUs. (1/2)

SIGNED! 🥳🥳🥳💪💪💪 A massive victory for holding monopoly utilities accountable to their customers, and for lowering Californian utility bills. Thank you to @governor.ca.gov, @asmmarcberman.bsky.social, @senmcnerney.bsky.social, @earthjustice.org, The Utility Reform Network for all your leadership!

Call today! Leave a voicemail asking Gov. Newsom to lower our electric and gas bills, and to stand up for ratepayers and not utility lobbyists. 916-445-2841, leave a voicemail, feel great, takes just a minute.

Let’s stop forcing California customers to pay for their utilities' advertising and political lobbying costs. @governor.ca.gov: sign #AB1167!

Even as I wait anxiously to see what @governor.ca.gov does with #AB1167, the bill to get utility political lobbying and PR out of rates, I'm so happy he signed #SB79, over some intense opposition, to build housing near transit. I hope he has the same courage when standing up to the utilities.

SB79 people who called and called to get that bill signed: great job! This would be a great way to use your newly-freed up time!

This is the last bill sitting on Gov. Newsom's desk that can lower utility bills from this session. Utilities are lobbying furiously against it. If you’re from California and want to register your opinion about AB 1167, call the Gov. at (916) 445-2841.

There's a bill on Gavin Newsom's desk right now that would stop monopoly utility companies from adding the costs of their lobbying and PR campaigns into customers' bills. It's unclear if Newsome will sign the bill, despite 93% of voters agreeing with its premise.

PG&E tried to charge customers millions for the cost of this ⬇️ TV ad, claiming that this PR campaign helps prevent fires(?!) Gov. Newsom can put an end to that garbage once and for all and lower Californians' money by signing #AB1167. It's sitting on his desk! www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxzW...

If you live in California and you want lower utility bills, and not to be forced to pay every month for those ubiquitous PG&E ads, and all the other insidious things your utility does to lobby our leaders, now’s the time to call Gov. Newsom at (916) 445-2841. Ask him to sign #AB1167.

The Trump Regime's National Energy Dominance Council provides "concierge, white glove service" for the oil industry, while wind sand solar projects are blocked. And even with the hand holding, the oil ind is hemorrhaging jobs www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

💯. @governor.ca.gov - be the Governor that stood up to for-profit utilities and sign #AB1167 to make California the 7th state to protect customers from footing the bill for their lobbying and promotional campaigns!

Gov. Newsom should sign AB 1167 to keep costs down for utility ratepayers by ensuring they are not forced to subsidize utilities’ political lobbying and PR, our @denisegrab.bsky.social writes at @legal-planet.org. legal-planet.org/2025/10/08/s...

"@governor.ca.gov should follow his own order to his agencies to identify programs 'whose funding might more appropriately come from a source other than ratepayers' and should sign AB 1167 into law." legal-planet.org/2025/10/08/s...

Needed some fun news today and holy shit did a doozy just land…

It's not the only or even the main reason @governor.ca.gov should sign it, but this bill is tailor-made for him to say "I will stand up to powerful interests to lower your monthly bills." Seems like the kinda thing he wants to communicate! energyandpolicy.org/california-l...

@gavinnewsom.bsky.social dragging his feet on this and SB 79 is…not good. Should he fail to sign one or both, primary voters who want livable and affordable cities and reasonable electricity prices will not forget.

Governor Newsom has a bill on his desk to hold utilities accountable, and get them to stop passing along their dark money campaigns to everyday Californians. Is he going to side with utilities, or side with the public and help lower electricity rates? energyandpolicy.org/california-l...

A crucial step toward more affordable utility bills is on @gavinnewsom.bsky.social’s desk. #CALeg passed AB 1167 and SB 24 to ensure utility customer dollars go towards safe and reliable energy – not political spending and lobbying. These bills deserve the Gov's signature.

A bill is sitting on @GavinNewsom’s desk that would lower Californians’ utility bills – all he has to do is sign it. But rumors are swirling that he plans to do the opposite - a move that could prove disastrous for California and for Newsom. A 🧵:

It takes a LOT to get a bill all the way through the CA legislature. Help us seal the deal by asking @cagovernornewsom.bsky.social to sign AB 1167 (protecting Californians from paying utility political & promotional costs in their energy bills) and AB 1280 (supporting industrial electrification)!

Gov. Newsom has made lowering utility bills a top priority. One thing that he can do that would help both immediately and over time: sign AB 1167, now sitting on his desk, which protects Californians from having to pay for utilities' lobbying and advertising! energyandpolicy.org/california-l...

Marissa Gillett, possibly the best utility regulator in the country, resigned from the Connecticut PURA this morning. She was forced out by Connecticut’s investor-owned utilities, who finally won their years-long, scorching campaign to oust her. A thread here about Gillett:

93% of CA voters agree that utilities should not charge customers for wasteful spending, including lobbying, PR, and marketing campaigns. AB 1167 & SB 24 deliver commonsense guardrails to protect customers. @gavinnewsom.bsky.social, sign these bills into law! energyandpolicy.org/california-l...

Utilities:

Rare good news: “State lawmakers last week made California the seventh state to pass a bill limiting investor-owned utilities from using customer money to pay for political and lobbying costs.” energyandpolicy.org/california-l...

Wild fact from the utility/large-business settlement proposal in FPL’s rate case, via @shelbyisgreen.bsky.social. Every time I hear a politician describe the pro-monopoly, pro-utility, pro-rate hike position as “pro-business,” a part of me dies inside. energyandpolicy.org/key-decision...

Utilities' speech violates the First Amendment when its paid for by the public. New article by my colleague Eliza Martin shows that a 2018 Supreme Court case prevents utilities from charging ratepayers for advertising and political activity -- www.utilitydive.com/news/unconst...

Bless you @dangearino.bsky.social for this: "Lawmakers and energy analysts often used the word 'deregulation' to describe what was happening, but it would be more accurate to call it a restructuring, since power plants were still subject to federal regulations." insideclimatenews.org/news/1908202...

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer finally revealed her pick for Michigan's newest utility regulator: a political ally with little energy experience who raised funds and worked for the former House speaker while he received gobs of utility money and killed utility reform bills planetdetroit.org/2025/07/whit...

Hey! COME WORK HERE Job: Illinois State Lead – Save transit, Build clean energy Team: BEST TEAM IN CLIMATE POLITICS AND POLICY - @michealpodgers.bsky.social @spears.bsky.social and the rest of us at @climateaf.bsky.social Location: Remote but in Illinois Pay: $85-105k Deadline: SOON! August 4!

👀 waterfordtoday.com/stories/6740...

Taking an overnight train w two children under 4 has to be the paradigmatic case of Type 2 Fun, right?

Watching the Republican Party’s most outspoken purported anti-monopolist carry the mantle of monopolies who have wanted Grain Belt dead for decades because it threatened their rent-seeking, all because “Wind Bad” is telling. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/c...

"We can only adapt now, it's too late to decarbonize" feels like one of those anti-science spaces where the far left meets the far right. As an adaptation specialist: yes, we need to adapt and adaptation saves lives, but it has LIMITS and we'll meet them quickly if we don't stop using fossil fuels.

This is exactly right. Anyone voting for the spending bill is voting for higher energy bills and blackouts.

Republicans want to increase energy prices, make your air dirtier, cede all innovation to China and other countries.

Please read and share this statement from Sophie and Colin Hortman, children of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark. (via WCCO reporter Caroline Cummings on X)

Dominion Energy gave $250K to a Democratic candidate for Virginia AG *in a primary.* (VA has unlimited corporate campaign contributions) That might be the largest single contribution from a monopoly utility to a candidate anywhere, ever? Anyone got that beat?

When you challenge SoCalGas charging customers for membership cost of their gas industry trade group, win, and its finally booked to a shareholder account. 💅

A Maine utility paid a consultant nearly $700 an hour to convince regulators to raise customers' rates in order to boost utility profits, then sought to charge customers for that expense. Your utility is probably doing this too. energyandpolicy.org/maine-bill-p...

Wow turns out there are a ton of Spurs fans on this site, which actually tracks perfectly.