Public Power week: October 5-11 | Let's think more broadly about utility issues

This week is Public Power Week, calling attention to public power producers (federal dams) and local utilities in electricity (and sometimes gas) that are owned by the local government.  The webpage calls these "community owned utilities."  

-- promotional resources

The American Public Power Association doesn't represent public water utilities (although some local governments are exploring the possibility of harnessing energy from temperature-controlled water streams).

October is also National Energy Awareness Month ("October is National Energy Awareness Month," 2021).

Roots in the rural electrification movement.  Public power organizations grew out of the Rural Electrification movement in the 1930s.  

Since outside of center cities it was rural, some public power utilities exist on the outskirts of cities, like the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative in Suburban Maryland.  

The ones, like SMEC, that buy electricity from traditional sources just like "investor owned" utilities, don't have a lot of pricing discount compared to those based on hydroelectric power sources.

Community power boards.  Interestingly, with the TVA, many of the communities have community owned utilities, called Electric Power Boards, although TVA like other federal dams, sell power to both for profit and non profit utilities.

Some, like the EPB in Chattanooga, sell cable and Internet services--they did this because they needed an Internet backbone to run their system of smart meters, and made it more robust and a separate service for their customers.  It's an economic development tool ("Chattanooga, Tenn., Makes Economic Case for Municipal Broadband," Government Technology, "The Infrastructure Success Story in Chattanooga," American Prospect) as well.

Drought and power generation.  Note that in the West, where a majority of federal dams generating electricity are located, drought is making it tougher for the dams to be able to generate electricity in the face of water levels dropping below water entranceways for the generating systems ("Lake Powell forecasts show hydropower generation is at risk next year as water levels drop," Colorado Sun).

Local governments want to buy out investor owned utilities.  Some municipalities like Ann Arbor ("Ann Arbor residents plan ballot initiative to dump DTE and begin shifting city toward public power," Michigan Advance), or previously Montgomery County explore(d) taking over electricity services but the cost of buying out the utility is too high.  

-- "Publicly-owned utilities as a way to move sustainable energy policy and practice forward + better operation," 2020

Already in Ann Arbor, the city "sustainable energy utility"--other cities have them too, like DC, is working to build a parallel system to DTE ("Ann Arbor’s sustainable energy utility aims to build the electric power grid of the future − alongside the old one," The Conversation).

The city, with voters’ strong support, is launching its own sustainable energy utility. This new utility won’t replace DTE Energy, the local investor-owned power company, or even use DTE’s wires.

Instead, Ann Arbor will slowly build out a whole new modern power system, starting with installing rooftop solar and battery storage and reducing energy usage in individual homes and businesses whose owners opt in. The city then plans to expand by connecting homes and neighborhoods into microgrids and by using community solar and networked geothermal to allow broader access to clean energy.

When their multi-state utility went bankrupt, the City of Portland tried to buy the city electric utility infrastructure but were denied by the Bankruptcy Court.

LA has a municipal power authority, while San Diego has the capability to do it, but keeps selling franchise rights to San Diego Gas & Electric.  While not cheap either, LA's electricity costs are significantly less than SDGE.

Should California buy PGE.  Because of the wildfire issue, it's even been suggested that the State of California should buy and operate Pacific Gas & Electric, to get them focused on service, and hardening, not just generating profits ("Let’s end the devastation by making PG&E public," San Francisco Chronicle).  Regardless, the Wall Street Journal, "Here are 5 fixes for PG&E," suggests fixes:

1. Stop running equipment til it breaks [and only then replacing it].
2. Use predictive tools to assess risk.
3. Regulate utility safety separate from rates.
4. Manage forests more aggressively.
5. Threaten PG&E's monopoly franchise.

Utility costs are rising.  While not directly a part of the Public Power Week promotion, it should be part of National Energy Awareness Month and provides an interesting opportunity to think about that state of utility costs--electricity and gas--in the US.  Because most markets are profit driven and prices are based on international and national pricing systems, prices are going up.

Over the past 15 years, many companies switched from coal to natural gas because prices were cheaper.  This has combined with increased solar and wind energy to keep prices down, until recently.

But now that international systems for selling and delivering natural gas have been developed, US electricity costs are trending higher, because utilities have many more competitors ("Fracking didn't drive down PA energy bills. What happened?," Spotlight PA).

The Trump Administration is addicted to fossil fuels.  One reason is because the Trump Administration is deliberately de-supporting cheaper forms of electricity generated by solar and wind power ("Trump’s hatred for renewables means the US is falling behind the rest of the world," Guardian, "Puerto Rico’s rooftop solar boom is strengthening grid resilience — why is a federal board trying to stop it?," UtilityDive, "New Report Examines Fossil Fuel Ties of Dozens of Trump Administration Hires," Inside Climate News, "The Trump administration's war on wind & renewable energy," KALW/NPR).

It's also de-funding a wide range of clean energy programs ("US green energy forecast cut by half under Trump despite global surge in solar and win" Financial Times).  From the article:

The IEA said a major factor in the US downgrade was President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which has sped up the end of tax credits for green developments. Permits for wind and solar projects on federal land or waters have also been suspended.

“With the pushing forward of deadlines, renewable capacity additions are now projected to peak in 2027, then decline in 2028 and remain stable through 2030,” the IEA said. 

Doubling back on "conservative fuels/a conservative economy" [I read about this idea recently but I can't find the citation--that for example fossil fuels are conservative and renewable energy sources progressive) reduces US economic competitiveness and resiliency.

Focusing on coal, to some extent oil, and the revived interest in nuclear power ("The New Nuclear Age: Why the World Is Rethinking Atomic Power," Goldman Sachs, "Trump dreams of nuclear as he axes grid projects," Politico) will only increase rates. 

Conservative state action against "progressive power" is an increasing problem as well ("Blaming the Wind for the Mess in Texas Is Painfully Absurd," New Yorker, "With Federal Support for Wind and Solar Waning, States Are Trying to Push Policy Through on Their Own," Inside Climate News

Other issues are:

• strengthening the transmission grid for more resilience in the face of more violent weather ("Building a more climate resistant grid," NRDC, "Three Ways to Prevent Our Next Massive Power Failure," Mother Jones).
• the increased demand for electricity from electric vehicles, although there is the counter-argument that EVs can serve as "batteries" to provide back up power ("The Truth About Electric Vehicles and the Grid: Strengthening—Not Straining—Our Energy Future," NRDC).
• the increased demand for electricity from data centers and AI ("Data centers," 2025),
• that regulatory cost systems for electricity infrastructure push a lot of the cost of servicing data centers on residences ("AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring," Bloomberg, "Big Tech’s A.I. Data Centers Are Driving Up Electricity Bills for Everyone," New York Times).
• continued public opposition to large scale renewable energy projects "in their backyard" ("Nearly all 50 states face local opposition to renewable projects, report finds," Factor This).
• weatherization and electrification household improvement programs to reduce energy demand ("Local neighborhood stabilization programs: Part 5 | Adding energy conservation programs, with the PUSH Buffalo Green Development Zone as a model," 2021). 

Publicly-owned utilities as a way to move sustainable energy policy and practice forward + better operation

About ten years ago, then Montgomery County Councilmember Roger Berliner pushed the idea of the county taking over the public utility infrastructure in order to improve reliability and operation.  He was widely derided for this position by the Washington Post and in other quarters ... although at the instigation of utility regulatory agencies in Maryland and DC, Pepco has since instituted a multi-billion dollar reliability improvement program.

-- "You can't wish away the need to upgrade aging utility infrastructure," 2014
-- "Press piling on Montgomery County's utility dreams," 2011

It even came up in DC, during the review of Exelon's acquisition of the firm which included Pepco, the local electric utility serving DC and parts of Maryland ("The opportunity to create a DC Municipal electric utility: presentation tonight," 2015).

Seattle Public Utilities uses its revenue stream to fund best practice water-related infrastructure, while the funding stream of the electric utility in Medellin has been used to invest in significant social infrastructure there ("Medellin: from narco terrorism to a hub of innovation & social urbanism," RSA). From the article:

These projects were largely funded by the EPM (Empresas Publicas de Medellin, a public utilities company set up in 1950 and owned by the municipality). In 2000, the city of Medellin and EPM partnered to reinvest 30% of its profits in a series of public works and spaces such as libraries, parks, schools and transport infrastructure. This targeted the integration of the poor and marginalised communities through public realm investment.

The City of Manassas offers a bunch of utility services, including cable television.

Although just as there are examples of many great municipal utilities, there are some examples of ones that are terribly operated, such as Philadelphia Gas Works and the water authority in Flint, Michigan.  Often this happens because politics gets in the way, such as making the utility out to be more of a way to employ supporters of elected officials, or for other reasons.

And sometimes, especially with water authorities, abetted by poor oversight, because the community it serves is too small economically to adequately provide revenue flows to maintain and invest in the system there can be serious problems.

Our Hamburg, Our Grid: Germany.  Interestingly, there is an article in the Guardian about how the city-state of Hamburg, Germany purchased the utility generation and distribution firm serving it, and how they've been able to move the utility forward in terms of sustainability ("Getting privatisation undone puts centre-left in good shape in Hamburg"). From the article:

In September 2013, 51% of the electorate voted to “re-municipalise” the local electricity and district heating networks, as proposed by grassroots initiative “Our Hamburg Our Grid”. ..

The re-municipalised electricity grid, for which Hamburg paid the Swedish energy group Vattenfall €610m, has been making the city senate a healthy profit since 2017.

The Greens are finding that having utility grids in public hands allows them to propose initiatives that would otherwise have sounded like pipe dreams. Hamburg, a city whose wealth has historically grown around its inland port, has in recent years turned into a busy laboratory for renewable energy schemes.

Hamburg is now the first state in Germany to write a legally binding date into its constitution, the year 2030, not just for halving its carbon emissions from 1990 levels, but also for phasing out coal power for district heating altogether. The 250,000 households in the city which use district heating are still powered by coal stations in Wedel and Tiefstack.

In the future, the Greens propose, Hamburg homes will be heated entirely from renewable sources such as waste incineration, biomass or solar power. There is a proposal to build a large heat storage system underneath the harbour, capturing excess heat produced in the summer for use during the winter by pumping hot salt water hundreds of meters deep into the soil.

-- "Our City, Our Grid: The energy remunicipalisation trend in Germany", from Reclaiming Public Services, Transnational Institute

Portland, Oregon.  In the fallout of the Enron bankruptcy, the City of Portland tried to purchase the municipal portion of its utility, but it was thwarted by the bankruptcy court, Wall Street, and public opinion.

And speaking of Portland, it runs the water utility, and some very conservative forces tried to use rising water rates because of required investments in infrastructure from federal mandates as a way to bring about privatization ("Portland Public Water District: Ballot Measure 26-156 trounced by nearly 3-to-1 margin," Portland Oregonian).

California.  The bankruptcy of Pacific Gas & Electric in California.  Because of being deemed responsible for a number of wildfires, the primary electric (and gas) utility in California is in bankruptcy.  Some quarters are advocating that the state take over and run the utility.

-- "Let’s end the devastation by making PG&E public," San Francisco Chronicle
-- "There's a better way out of the PG&E bankruptcy," San Francisco Chronicle

Too big to succeed?  The thing is that the scale there are talking about is so much bigger than a typical utility operating at the scale of a county or city.

TVA and public utility distribution at the local scale.  But rural electric cooperatives and the Tennessee Valley Authority offer a more scalable alternative.

TVA is a big public utility, a Depression-era economic development initiative to bring electric power to rural areas.

While the big TVA is the primary producer of electricity, at the regional scale it is self-organized into nine customer service districts and within those districts smaller and separate organizations, many municipally owned, such as the "Electric Power Board" in Chattanooga are the sellers of electricity to individual users.

Some local electricity distributors are particularly innovative. The one in Chattanooga is a leader in linking high speed Internet ("Chattanooga as a smart city," 2014) to the grid as a management tool, providing high speed computing services much more cheaply as a result, along with cable television and telecommunications services.

If PG&E were to be taken over by the state, they should organize similarly.