Today, Evergreen Collaborative is releasing, “How Your Utility is Funding Climate Denial,” a new explainer video breaking down utility anti-climate lobbying—and how the American people are funding it through their monthly power bills.

Today, about two-thirds of Americans are served by investor-owned utilities, regulated by public utility commissions, which are supposed to keep the electricity system safe, reliable, and affordable. But many of these regulators are up against a formidable opponent—the utility companies, themselves. By spending millions lobbying to influence these regulators, utilities have become profit-making machines for their shareholders and Wall Street execs at the expense of their actual customers.

Subsequently, utilities are using millions of dollars from ratepayers to pay membership dues to backward trade groups like Edison Electric Institute (EEI), lobby against state and federal climate and clean air policies, and mislead the public about their role in accelerating the climate crisis. While many utilities and their trade groups are publicly claiming to support the clean energy transition, behind closed doors, they are actively lobbying against crucial climate and clean energy legislation and attempting to lock us into polluting, expensive energy sources.   

States have noticed and are starting to pass legislation that prevents customer money from financing utility lobbying. Learn more by watching our full explainer video here.