Originally published at ilsr.org.
Frustrated with incumbent utility Alliant Energy for high costs and resistance to local renewable energy, the city council in Decorah, IA, has put a municipal utility takeover on the ballot on May 1, 2018. ILSR’s Director of Energy Democracy, John Farrell, provided a presentation to a forum of Decorah Power, the local advocacy organization favoring city utility ownership to discuss several advantages from local ownership. First, there’s an abundant local wind and solar energy resource. Second, Decorah isn’t alone, and over 2,000 other cities chart their own course with municipal ownership. Finally, getting power locally returns more dollars to the local economy.
John also discussed the limitations of the status quo, including the distance and limited public oversight of the current private, monopoly utility and the political power it can exercise on behalf of its shareholders, and often at the expense of its customers in Decorah and elsewhere. See more of ILSR’s research on municipal utilities here.
See the slides and watch the video below!
Video:
Slides:
Local Power for Decorah, Iowa from John Farrell
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