Photo by Emma Pabst
Last Thursday the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter and allied organizations rallied everyday Texans in front of the Public Utilities Commission of Texas, demanding the state agency to do more to help fix the grid and lower customers’ bills. Approximately 30 people gathered outside the PUC offices with signs and homemade power lines strung with Monopoly money to symbolize high bills as well as the agency’s enabling of corporate greed. After rallying, Sierra Club, Texas Campaign for the Environment, PODER, Public Citizen Texas, and other participants headed inside to the open hearing room — a space that is typically filled with only lobbyists — to give public testimony before commissioners.
Since Winter Storm Uri revealed the serious flaws in our state’s electric grid, state leaders and the PUC — the state agency that regulates our electric grid as well as major utilities — have talked a lot about investing more in energy efficiency programs, the quickest, cheapest, and cleanest way to fix the grid. But they have failed to actually do so. Meanwhile, we’ve had record-breaking heat, multiple emergency calls on regular Texans to conserve energy under the threat of grid collapse, and skyrocketing bills for residential customers whose rates have doubled. Did we mention that, all the while, wealthy energy companies have been making massive profits?
Progress Update
After last week’s rally and robust public testimony, the PUC announced that it was creating an Office of Public Engagement and tasking new commissioner Kathleen Jackson with all things energy efficiency.
Our organizing over the last year and a half — three mobilizations at the PUC, our People's Hearing last November, and thousands of people signing our action alerts — is demonstrating the power of organized people. It’s only through this grassroots power building process (and your participation in it) that we’ve made some progress with the agency.
What’s Next
One of the most important points in our campaign is just around the corner. The Sierra Club filed a rulemaking petition with the PUC in August. The agency is now required to consider our petition and is accepting public comments on it until Sept. 16.
We’ll continue to pressure the PUC to approve our petition and you can keep helping, too.
- Take action here to tell PUC to do better with energy efficiency.
- On a sheet of paper or post-it note, write down your highest summer electric bill and who your utility is (Example: “My July TXU electric bill was $151.26”). Then, take a selfie with it, tag us, and include the hashtag #FixTheGrid.
- Spread the word to friends and family!
Let’s not forget that Texas ranks 37th in energy efficiency despite how unstable our grid is – and the PUC is allowing wealthy energy companies to continue with status quo EE programs despite this. And commissioners are also letting these companies’ shareholders take home huge bonuses (paid for by ratepayers) for meeting very underwhelming goals.
It feels good to see something positive come from our work, but the work is not over. And just as the PUC has been talking for months about energy efficiency with no meaningful policy changes, PUC’s actions – or inaction – will ultimately speak louder than its words.