{"id":98634,"date":"2022-05-18T10:07:02","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T14:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/?p=98634"},"modified":"2022-05-18T10:07:02","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T14:07:02","slug":"hundreds-of-environmental-consumer-groups-request-investigation-electric-utility-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/2022\/05\/hundreds-of-environmental-consumer-groups-request-investigation-electric-utility-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds of environmental, consumer groups request investigation of electric utility industry
The 230+ petitioners are asking the Federal Trade Commission to look into utility abuses such as blocking independent solar energy.<\/span>"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 230 consumer, environmental and public interest groups urged the Federal Trade Commission<\/a>\u00a0to investigate the electric utility industry for widespread abuses. These include bribery, fake dark-money campaigns and denying customers access to renewable energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday abusive utility practices are leading to increased electricity rates, obstruction of clean energy competitors in the face of climate change, and utility interference in democratic processes,\u201d the groups said in the petition to the FTC. \u201cThe urgency for a federal investigation of utility companies\u2019 unfair competitive and anti-democratic practices at this time cannot be overstated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The petition details widespread anti-competitive abuses by monopoly electric utilities across the country, including tens of millions of dollars in bribes to public officials, bankrolling schemes to run \u201cghost\u201d candidates to keep political allies in power, and fixing the market to block competitors from providing renewable energy to customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cUtilities are gouging ratepayers and cutting off power while they line the pockets of politicians and rig the system to block planet-saving renewable energy,\u201d said Jean Su, director of the Center for Biological Diversity\u2019s energy justice program. \u201cLike it did a century ago, the FTC should use its authority to investigate the broken utility industry and stop this blatant self-dealing. The FTC needs to stand up for consumers and give renewable energy competition a fighting chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

An FTC investigation of the electric utility industry has precedent. Massive industry consolidation in the 1920s led to consumer abuse, corruption and an unrelenting campaign against public power competitors. These actions triggered a seven-year-long FTC investigation into electric utility abuses.<\/p>\n

The investigations\u2019 findings laid the groundwork for the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935. This landmark legislation set limits on utility companies\u2019 ability to merge and manipulate the market. Congress repealed the Act in 2005, worsening many of the problems the United States is seeing today.<\/p>\n

Some of the abuses described in the petition include:<\/p>\n