Frustration Boils Over as Investor-Owned Utilities Fail to Deliver
Across the country, communities are fed up with the high rates, poor service, and lack of accountability from their investor-owned utility providers. Faced with skyrocketing electricity bills, frequent outages, and slow progress on renewable energy, a growing number of cities and towns are taking action to wrestle control of their power grids away from for-profit companies and establish publicly owned utilities.
“Across the country, people are talking about public ownership of energy,” says Sarahana Shrestha, a New York state assembly member who recently co-sponsored a bill to create a public power authority to take over Central Hudson Gas & Electric. “If we want a just transition — taking care of workers, and making sure that it’s affordable and brings benefits back into communities — there’s no effective way of doing that while you’re still answering to shareholders.”
This surge in utility municipalization campaigns reflects a broader frustration with the profit-driven model of energy provision. High electricity rates are pricing out low-income households, while investor-owned utilities continue to prioritize shareholder returns over reliable, affordable, and sustainable service.
The campaign in San Diego to take over San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) is the latest high-profile example of this nationwide trend. With some of the highest power prices in the country, San Diegans are demanding a shift to public ownership to save on their bills and accelerate the transition to clean energy.
Seeking Cheaper, Greener, More Equitable Power
San Diego residents pay some of the nation’s highest electricity rates, and by one estimate, more than a quarter of customers are behind on their payments. Advocates say a municipal takeover of SDG&E would deliver cheaper rates and a faster, more affordable, and more equitable transition to clean energy.
“If we can get a couple of council members that are open to public power, if we can get a mayor who is open to public power, which we’ve had in the past, then the movement isn’t dependent on the endpoint of a ballot initiative,” says Bill Powers, chair of the community group Power San Diego, which recently submitted petitions with over 30,000 signatures calling for a public takeover.
The group estimates the move would save residents 20 percent on their utility bills, as a nonprofit model eliminates the need to provide shareholders with a return. A city-commissioned study found the utility’s 700,000 customers within San Diego could save 13-14% annually if the city bought the grid assets for $2 billion and created a municipal utility.
However, the campaign faces long odds, with the city council twice rejecting similar proposals and the utility aggressively fighting the effort. SDG&E has contributed over $700,000 to a political action committee called Responsible Energy San Diego, which calls the proposal a “reckless ballot initiative to force a government takeover of the energy grid.”
While the San Diego effort may struggle to succeed, similar campaigns are gaining momentum across the country. In Rochester, New York, public power advocates want the city to evaluate the costs and benefits of a municipal utility. In San Francisco, officials are working to determine a fair price to acquire Pacific Gas & Electric’s distribution grid and create a citywide public power system.
Battling Utility Influence and Misinformation
The success of these municipalization efforts hinges on overcoming the deep-pocketed opposition from investor-owned utilities. In Maine, for example, political action committees backed by the state’s two largest private utilities received 34 times more money than public power advocates, allowing them to finance a “robust campaign of advertising and misinformation” that defeated a 2021 referendum to take over the utilities.
Concentric Energy Advisors, the same consultants who helped defeat the Maine effort, have been hired by SDG&E to estimate the cost of a San Diego takeover at $9.3 billion — nearly triple the $3.5 billion estimate from the city’s own study. Utility-aligned groups like Responsible Energy San Diego are warning that public ownership would lead to “higher taxes, higher electric bills, and/or cuts to essential city services.”
Despite these obstacles, the momentum for public power continues to build. In New York, state legislators recently introduced a bill to create the Hudson Valley Power Authority to buy out Central Hudson Gas & Electric, citing the utility’s high rates and poor service. And in Pueblo, Colorado, a grassroots campaign called Bring Power Home 2020 has pushed the city council to hold a referendum on ditching the investor-owned Black Hills Energy in favor of a municipal utility.
“People are so fed up with getting bills that are inconsistent and late,” says Shrestha. “People are really excited about learning how we can actually get public power done.”
As the impacts of climate change intensify and the clean energy transition accelerates, the cracks in the investor-owned utility model have become impossible to ignore. By taking control of their power grids, communities across the U.S. are seeking to build a more equitable, affordable, and sustainable energy future.
Empowering Communities through Public Ownership
This growing movement to reclaim public control over electric utilities reflects a broader shift in how people view the role of government and the public sector. For decades, the narrative has been that private companies can deliver services more efficiently and at lower cost than public entities.
But the failings of investor-owned utilities, from skyrocketing rates to preventable disasters, have undermined that argument. “Corporate monopolies reaching into the pockets of everyday working people,” as San Diego council president Sean Elo-Rivera put it, are no longer seen as the best option.
Instead, communities are recognizing the potential of public ownership to address the interconnected challenges of energy affordability, climate change, and economic inequality. Publicly owned utilities can reinvest profits back into the grid and prioritize the needs of residents over shareholders. They can also more aggressively pursue renewable energy and energy efficiency programs that benefit all ratepayers, not just those who can afford rooftop solar.
The transition to public power is not without its challenges. Utilities have deep pockets and political influence, and buying out an investor-owned system can be an expensive and legally complex process. But across the country, civic leaders and grassroots organizers are proving that it can be done.
As the Joint Action for Water blog, we recognize the parallels between the fight for public control of water and sanitation services and the battle over electric utilities. Both involve essential services that have been subjected to the whims of profit-driven corporations, with harmful consequences for marginalized communities. And in both cases, the path forward lies in empowering local residents to shape the systems that power their lives and livelihoods.
By supporting the growing movement for utility municipalization, we can help build a more just, sustainable, and democratically accountable energy future. We encourage our readers to get involved with these campaigns in their own communities, and to continue advocating for public ownership of critical infrastructure as a means of advancing the broader goals of the water and sanitation justice movement.
Learn more about the Joint Action for Water initiative at https://jointactionforwater.org/.
