Free Republic

The woke city of New York is being overrun by rampant crime, illegal immigrants, and now squatters thanks to a law that turns them into tenants after 30 days. New York City homeowners are being pushed to financial limits that allow squatters to live rent-free. At the same time, the owners are forced to keep paying electricity and maintenance bills for the apartments. Under New York City law, anyone who lives in a home or apartment for at least 30 days can claim squatter’s rights, even if they broke into the property without permission from the owner. Squatters are taking...

The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act propelled forward President Joe Biden’s vision of a clean energy economy. As outlined in a 2023 guidebook, this remaking of the U.S. economy includes billions in funding for green tech manufacturing — everything from hydrogen production to batteries to solar panels. The plan will not only create jobs and investments for Americans, according to the Biden administration, it will lower the nation’s dependence on China, which currently controls 80% of the global production in polysilicon and other components used in solar panels, 80% of wind-turbine components, and 89% of the refining to produce...

Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid. In Georgia, demand for industrial power is surging to record highs, with the projection of new electricity use for the next decade now 17 times what it was only recently. Arizona Public Service, the largest utility in that state, is also struggling to keep up, projecting it will be out of transmission capacity before the end of the decade absent...

Our Ebola just landed in England for a tour after a couple of years in Germany. His first few days have been the usual tumult of Air Force ineptitude coupled with adapting to another completely different country. As I've been knee-deep in England's self-induced energy challenges for going on a couple of years now, and the kiddo has to start house hunting this weekend, I've been kind of worried about what it's going to cost him to stay warm next winter. At least in Germany he had one of those uber-efficient and relatively affordable wood-burning stacks that will heat the...

Johannesburg and the large township of Soweto nearby have been forced to endure several days without water as electricity problems have knocked out pumping stations and a late summer heat wave has strained reservoirs. Residents have been forced to rely on bottled water as local utilities have turned down water pressure, or turned off water completely. And outside Johannesburg’s wealthier, leafy suburbs, spare water has been in short supply. South Africa’s Daily Maverick reported: On Sunday, 17 March, Johannesburg Water said the system remained under “severe strain”, and the bulk supplier, Rand Water, warned that its system faced imminent collapse....

Rate increases will go into effect April 1, 2024.. As Holy Cross Energy experiences increased costs due to higher-than-normal inflation and constraints in the supply chain throughout the entire economy, its board of directors approved an increase to its monthly customer rates in January 2024. The increase will be based on individual rate classes and go into effect starting April 1, 2024. This increase addresses rising costs due to inflation and better aligns Holy Cross Energy rates with how its actual costs are incurred. Small and large members are separated by their monthly demand reading falling below or above 50kW....

I first reported in April 2023 about a new California state law that would require utility companies to come up with a fixed-rate plan as a way to help stabilize rates and make billing more "equitable." Hence, the state’s soon-to-be-implemented "equitable" policy will base residential electricity bills on income rather than usage, even as public and political opposition to the idea builds in the Democratic coalition.I titled my 2023 article "Marxism, California Style? New State Law Will Lead Energy Companies to Bill Customers Based on Income" because of a phrase popularized by Karl Marx as part of a larger communist...

Dependable, low-cost electricity is essential to keeping the lights on for millions of American family-owned businesses. It is the type of essential item that touches nearly every aspect of our lives; the bakery relies on ovens, the repair shop on power tools, and the local grocer on refrigeration, and on and on. A consistent and affordable power source ensures that they can operate without interruption and keep prices competitive for their customers despite low margins and a fragile economy. Unfortunately, misguided federal policies now threaten to further disrupt our electric grid and could cause these business to shutter. In the...

California’s buildout of wind and solar farms is exceeding the ability of its grid to handle all the electricity during periods of high production and low demand. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Monday that curtailments, which is when wind and solar farms are deliberately shut down, increased to peak levels in 2023. The California Independent System Operator, which operates the electricity grid for much of the state, has steadily curtailed the amount of electricity from wind and solar farms that flows through its system. The decreases appear to be situational, not a steady process, and are the result of...

Hamas is stealing urgently needed water supplies from Palestinian civilians. Don't believe us? In this clip from Hamas, terrorists are seen digging up Gaza’s water pipes to build rockets for attacking Israel.

(Reuters) -Hawaiian Electric's shares jumped more than 40% on Monday after the utility said its power lines in West Maui had been shut down for more than six hours before wildfires started in the area during the afternoon. (snip) Hawaiian Electric said on Monday that a morning fire on Aug. 8 caused by power lines that fell in high winds was subsequently reported "100% contained" and later declared "extinguished" by the Maui County Fire Department.The utility said another afternoon fire started in the same area more than six hours after all of its power lines in West Maui had been...

Among the media sources serving as propagandists and cheerleaders for the “green energy transition,” two of the most prominent are the New York Times and Bloomberg News. To get an idea how the “transition” is going, let’s take a look at the latest from those two. From the Times, in this morning’s print edition, we have a feature article that apparently first appeared online a couple of days ago, August 17. The headline is: “The Clean Energy Future Is Arriving Faster Than You Think.” The sub-head continues the excitement: “The United States is pivoting away from fossil fuels and toward...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (NSF) - Florida utility regulators and other industry officials are objecting to a federal proposal aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants. Regulators argue the changes could drive up costs for consumers and hurt the reliability of the state’s electric system. The Florida Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved sending a document to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency raising concerns that the proposed rule could result in unjust and unreasonable carbon emissions performance standards that would risk the safety, reliability and affordability of electric service in Florida. The EPA released the wide-ranging proposal in May, saying it...

The “public interest” does not mean “special interest.” Regulators of Colorado’s public utilities corporations should learn the difference. The full mission of Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission is it “serves the public interest by effectively regulating utilities and facilities so that the people of Colorado receive safe, reliable, and reasonably priced services consistent with the economic, environmental and social values of our state.” That means serving the highest values of nearly 6 million diverse individuals with every imaginable set of priorities. It does not mean serving the highest values of wealthy climate change activists or the political party in power. The...

In conservatives' ongoing — and largely successful — work to gut woke ESG (environmental, social and governance) policies in order to protect investors' financial wellness, more than one dozen state attorneys general have put BlackRock on notice by challenging its ability to snap up stock in public utility companies. BlackRock's blanket authorization to buy large stakes in public utility companies — granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) — is worrisome given BlackRock's touted membership in Climate Action 100+ and Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative. The former means that BlackRock has pledged to "work with the companies in which...

The state of California is implementing full Marxism before our very eyes under the guise of “equity.” And so now there can be no possible doubt if there ever was for anyone: instituting Communism has been what “equity” initiatives have been about all along. Now three of its most powerful utility companies are saying that they’re going to charge based not on how much of their product was used, but on how much money the user makes. In simpler times, if you bought something, you paid for it. Rich or poor, tall or short, black or white, female or male,...

Michigan Senate Democrats on Wednesday announced a sweeping bill package that aims to put legal teeth behind efforts to wean Michigan off fossil fuels. The package, which Democratic leaders said would be filed by Thursday, would require state-regulated utilities to stop burning coal by 2030, and would require them to deliver 100 percent clean energy by 2035. Senate Democrats spokesperson Rosie Jones initially said Wednesday that would be a renewable energy requirement but later clarified the bill would require “carbon-free” energy. She did not specify whether that leaves the door open to utilities continuing to use fossil fuels while deploying...

The nation's largest grid operator is warning it may face a major coming shortfall in electric generating capacity as utilities retire more and more traditional fossil fuel power plants. It's a challenge facing grid operators across the country as power generators mothball coal and natural gas-fired plants for various reasons, such as reducing high maintenance and regulatory compliance costs or cutting greenhouse gas emissions. ... PJM Interconnection, which manages grid operations across 13 states and the District of Columbia, published new analysis Friday showing retirements outpacing new additions in the coming years that could leave its service area short of...

Over the past few months, we’ve asked Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) questions about how they spend ratepayer dollars on advertising and sponsorships. Stay tuned for a future Springs Taxpayers United article about sponsorships. Right now, we’ll focus exclusively on the CSU advertising budget. We wondered why a monopoly utility needs to advertise at all. No one in their service area has a choice on which utility to use. The local advertising company Vladmir Jones handles the advertising account for CSU. Through a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request, we asked for all of the 2022 advertising expenditures. Vladmir Jones invoices...

Californians are expecting skyrocketing natural gas bills this month, but this can’t all be blamed on the weather, according to industry insiders. Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), which serves about 5.9 million households and businesses, warned customers to expect “shockingly high” January bills that could be 128 percent higher compared to December. Those who typically paid around $65 a month last winter are likely to pay about $160 this year, SoCalGas said in a statement Dec. 29. Those with bills around $130 a month could see charges jump to $315. Last December, wholesale natural gas prices already cost five times...