In this corner we have the "shadowy" and "secretive" New England Ratepayers Association, which describes itself as "...established to give a larger voice for the families and businesses that are served by regulated utilities," and "NERA will advocate on behalf of ratepayers across a wide range of issues in every state in New England." However, the media has kind of described NERA as an industry front group. Nobody knows where NERA gets its funding.
NERA includes 12 company members and received $245,000 in total revenue in 2018, Public Citizen pointed out in its testimony. Contributions make up the entirety of the group's revenue, according to its 990 tax forms, averaging approximately $20,000 per member.
"A $20,000 financial contribution to become a 'member' of the New England Ratepayers Association orients its membership more in line [with] a corporate trade association," Public Citizen wrote in its comments.
NERA describes itself as "an independent non-profit" that was "established to give a larger voice for the families and businesses that are served by regulated utilities." NERA's Brown did not respond to multiple Utility Dive questions about its funding and membership.
"NERA isn't some rag tag bunch of dreamers. They are a well financed corporate front group pursuing a smart, aggressive playbook," said Slocum.
And in the opposite corner is Public Citizen, who describes itself as "a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power," and claims "we don’t participate in partisan political activities." However Influence Watch claims Public Citizen is a "liberal lobbying and advocacy organization created by left-wing activist and former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader. The organization supports a broad liberal policy agenda focused on opposing to the free-market interests of American business owners." Public Citizen gets a lot of its funding through shadowy and secretive grants and "gifts" from private environmental "funds". No consumers are guiding its energy work.
The referee for this match is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, who has recently embarked on a campaign to reverse the past decade of energy policy set by earlier Commissioners and remake the agency into a partisan political stooge for the industry it regulates. You might call it a new era of regulatory capture.
The prize for this fight is net metering, a subject that was thoroughly adjudicated nearly a decade ago and firmly decided as not within FERC's jurisdiction. However, NERA now says that it IS FERC jurisdictional and that the Commission should regulate excess energy production that feeds back to the grid and set its price as the utility's avoided cost. All this has been thoroughly picked over and decided long ago, but NERA believes it can now get a different result from the new FERC.
Public Citizen wants to make this a slugfest over who actually represents consumers and who represents special interests. Somehow they believe having this sideshow argument is going to derail NERA's petition. NERA is probably laughing themselves silly while they wave their red cape at Public Citizen.
Who will win? It doesn't matter, because we all lose.
The referee for this match is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, who has recently embarked on a campaign to reverse the past decade of energy policy set by earlier Commissioners and remake the agency into a partisan political stooge for the industry it regulates. You might call it a new era of regulatory capture.
The prize for this fight is net metering, a subject that was thoroughly adjudicated nearly a decade ago and firmly decided as not within FERC's jurisdiction. However, NERA now says that it IS FERC jurisdictional and that the Commission should regulate excess energy production that feeds back to the grid and set its price as the utility's avoided cost. All this has been thoroughly picked over and decided long ago, but NERA believes it can now get a different result from the new FERC.
Public Citizen wants to make this a slugfest over who actually represents consumers and who represents special interests. Somehow they believe having this sideshow argument is going to derail NERA's petition. NERA is probably laughing themselves silly while they wave their red cape at Public Citizen.
Who will win? It doesn't matter, because we all lose.
RSS Feed