What is happening
Your utility bill might as well be in another language. You watch the price of electricity go up and try to understand all the extra fees and charges. You already know firsthand how your utility bill hurts your wallet. However, you may not know that monopoly utilities are misusing your hard-earned money to lobby against your interests and to fund their lobbying and other dirty political tactics. These utilities often are exposed for trying to make it more difficult and expensive for people to install their own rooftop solar systems.
Monopoly utilities have already been caught in multi-million dollar bribery scandals and crimes (in Florida, Ohio and Illinois recently). They’re sending your money to hire lobbyists, give money to politicians, run shadowy campaigns, and hire expensive lawyers to find loopholes to work against you. Enough is enough. They abuse the system, we pay the bills. It has to stop.
Together, we can prevent utility abuses
You can be a part of the people-powered movement to stop utility corruption. Momentum is on our side. Colorado, Connecticut and Maine have already passed state legislation to rein in utility political spending. And a bill in Congress has just been introduced to rein in utility corrupt practices.
Tell your Congressional representatives to co-sponsor and support utility transparency and accountability reforms.
The bill will:
- Prohibit utilities from charging you for things like lobbying expenses, political contributions, legal fees, and advertising
- Make it harder for utilities to increase your rates
- Stop utilities from using your money to lobby against your interests
- Penalize any utility that breaks the rules
