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/419/ Who Owns Power ft. Fred Stafford
🕑 Added 2024-06-20 06:00:02 +0000 UTCOn the electricity grid and the institutions involved.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Fred Stafford, a STEM professional, a writer on energy and power, and an editor at Damage, talks to Alex and regular contributor Leigh Phillips about the utility of utilities and his recent essay in the second print issue of Damage, "Deinstitutionalized".
What actually is a utility: is it a question of ownership, structure, purpose..?
How did the 70s energy crisis, neoliberal economics, and environmentalism create a perfect storm that broke up regulated utilities?
How does the regulatory regime on energy in the US actually work?
Why have environmentalists been so keen to line up with neoliberal deregulation and to attack utilities – in Europe as well as the US?
Why should the left think about a restoration of the investor-owned utility model, and not just jump straight to public ownership?
Links:
The Utility of Utilities, Fred Stafford & Matt Huber, Damage
Big Public Power from the Atom, Matt Huber & Fred Stafford, Damage
Power Loss: The Origins of Deregulation and Restructuring in the American Electric Utility System, Richard F Hirsch
Comments
Christoph Iselin
Great discussion, only one question, where does the idea that capitalism is not able to produce enough energy, brought up by Alex twice, come from? From my experience in Switzerland, there is a big appetite by private capital and cantonal(= state)/municipality-owned utility companies to build hydropower, wind farms and even big solar farms in the mountains. It just gets fought to the nail by conservationists, degrowther and luddites or outright killed at the ballot box. The only situation where state subsidies, explicit or implicate seem to be needed is with nuclear, as you can't insure it.
Richard R
Great to hear such a thorough discussion!
