Absolute Power Corrupting Our Energy System

In the groundbreaking report Upcharge: Hidden Costs of Electric Utility Monopoly Power, John Farrell exposes the severe environmental, financial, and economic costs imposed by monopoly utilities. John joins Building Local Power to discuss how these utilities perpetuate a monopoly model that is damaging our health, environment, and economy. He uncovers the corruptive forces of monopoly utilities, their far-reaching consequences, and proposes actionable solutions. During the interview, John reflects on what’s changed since he and David Pomerantz discussed the dark side of the electricity business in the 2019 Building Local Power episode we replay after the interview. He shares what keeps him hopeful and why he believes we will continue making progress toward a distributed and democratic energy system.

Om Podcasten

At the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, we work to break the chains of monopoly power in all sectors of our economy. From challenging incumbent cable monopolies in order to promote better Internet connectivity to pointing out how Amazon pushes local retailers out of the market, our researchers develop positive policy prescriptions to improve local economies. This podcast series provides a first glimpse at some of our newest original research and a unique economic perspective on today's most pressing topics.