Michael Tannahill of Pueblo, Colorado, has had his electricity shut off more months than not since 2015.
For residents of Pueblo, Colorado, a city 100 miles south of Denver, energy is a daily topic of conversation for all the wrong reasons. The local utility, South Dakota-based Black Hills Energy, charges some of the highest rates in the state despite the fact that Puebloans' median income is far below the state and national average.
Black Hills disconnected one out of every six households last year for nonpayment, leaving thousands in the dark and the cold. Since 2015, Michael Tannahill, above, has lived in one of the thousands of homes that is frequently without power. After Tannahill was hospitalized because of a lung condition, Black Hills pulled the plug on his electricity and is charging him $1,370 to get it turned back on.
Households across the city face the same injustices. "All the years I’ve been on council—that’s seven years—there has been no issue in this community that I have gotten more calls over than the cost of electricity," says council president Steve Nawrocki.
But the future holds hope for local residents, as the city has committed to 100 percent clean, renewable energy, and hundreds of activists have formed the group Pueblo’s Energy Future. Forward-thinking city leaders believe that solar power can deliver fairly priced, equitable, clean energy to all residents.
The challenge now becomes working to change a utility that has long held profit above people. Kevin Olsen, a clean energy organizer with Pueblo’s Energy Future, has a vision: "Let’s make our utility reflect the heart of this community. Let’s make it caring and compassionate, generous and fair."
Read the full story in Sierra — and watch this video about Pueblo's fight for 100 percent clean energy.