Initiatives
Energy Democracy Resource Hub
Currently in development, the Resource Hub will connect organizations with available practitioners, toolkits, trainings, and resources to help achieve their energy democracy goals.
This hub will be resourced by the concurrent development of ongoing initiatives within the Project, as well as other shared materials from allies in the Energy Democracy movement. The Resource Hub is envisioned as having paid staff (akin to agents/coaches) with the knowledge and expertise required to connect energy democracy initiatives to the resources they need for success.
Contact Anchor: Ernesto Cruz from Co-op Power
People’s Utility Justice Playbook
To address climate justice, we must address the powerful domination of utilities’ financial interests in the energy sector.
As utilities increasingly fail to protect us in the face of climate change while imposing rate hikes and other hostile measures, we need a People’s Utility Justice Playbook to expose their tactics and build our organizing strength—to not only fight back but to take the offensive. The Playbook was developed to identify the different ways that utilities actively block community activists’ efforts for justice.
Utilities have their playbook; it’s time we had our own.
Contact Anchors:
Nora Elmarzouky from Emerald Cities Collaborative
Yesenia Rivera from Energy Allies
Utility Debt Jubilee
We can’t achieve energy democracy when so many people – primarily in low-income, Black and Brown, and indigenous communities across the country – are facing life-threatening shutoffs, or buried under mountains of debt.
Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Utility Debt Jubilee Working Group has connected activists working at the state and local level to demand access to clean energy and water as a human right.
We’ve created model legislation that requires utilities to reveal how many people are being disconnected from essential services, and how much debt people are carrying just to keep the lights on. We’ve also created a model rule for commissions to stop shutoffs and address customer debt. When utilities are no longer allowed to prioritize profit over community safety, we build power for our own clean energy solutions.
Contact Anchors:
Erica Flores from RE-AMP Network
Jessica Tovar from Local Clean Energy Alliance
Strategic Gatherings
As a support function of the Energy Democracy Project, this maximizes the ability for Affiliated Organizations to stay connected and maintain the momentum from the Strategic Convening in 2019. The Project hosts quarterly learning calls and works with the Project Coordinator to plan and manage generative events, including an annual Strategic Convening.
Contact Coordinator: Crystal Huang
National Political Issues
This initiative supports collaborators in reaching out to broad sectors of the environmental movement to popularize energy democracy principles, purposes, and values.
Check out the energy democracy policy platform we put forth for our congressional briefing attended by ~150 people in 2021.
Contact Anchor: Adam Flint from the NY Energy Democracy Alliance
If you or your organization are interested in participating in these initiatives, reach out directly to a contact anchor. The Energy Democracy Project operates on a community-to-community mutual aid framework; there is no formal membership needed before participating in a project.
Let’s connect on Twitter @EnergyDemocTour.
