Utilities
Massages and country clubs: Your electric bill may be funding lavish perks
Utility customers sometimes foot the bill for lobbying, advertising and luxurious living, new report shows
Utilities
Utilities
North Carolina town sues Duke Energy for climate ‘deception’
Carrboro, N.C., accuses Duke of knowingly fueling the climate crisis for decades with harmful emissions, deception, delay and ‘greenwashing’
Utilities
Big utility PACs favor GOP in high-stakes 2024 races
While Republicans are the main beneficiaries, in the narrowly divided Senate, power companies hedged their bets with donations to some Dems
Utilities
Will bitcoin and data centers risk US climate goals?
US energy use has been flat. But new industries are forcing a boost in utility forecasts for demand, potentially harming efforts to cut emissions.
Utilities
Fraud and corruption on rise at US utilities, threatening energy transition
A Floodlight analysis finds a historic surge in power company fraud and corruption. The lies and bribes cost consumers — and threaten the planet.
Fueling Disinformation
‘Control the narrative’: How an Alabama utility wields influence by financing news
A Floodlight investigation found Alabama Power runs a news service and its foundation bought a Black newspaper. Neither publishes critical stories about the utility.
Polluting Democracy
‘What corruption gets you’: How utility companies bought support in the Black south
A joint investigation by Floodlight and Capital B shows millions of dollars flowed from utilities to Black leaders and their groups since at least 2009.
Utilities
Voting rights decision may curb push to diversify Georgia, Alabama utility commissions
Plaintiffs in the challenge to Georgia Public Service Commission’s statewide elections appear headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Utilities
Going clean means more ‘green’ — for electric companies
Billions in new projects to reduce emissions means ratepayers must foot the bill while utilities earn guaranteed, often double-digit, profits.
Utilities
Public utility commissions are exceptionally white. It’s hurting black residents.
As the new head of a group of conservation voters in Georgia, Brionté McCorkle wanted to sit down with regulators who oversee the state’s utilities to talk about carbon emissions.
Utilities
US utilities oppose Biden efforts to make gas power plants cleaner
Lobbying group’s pushback is out of step with voters and raises questions about industry commitment to reducing pollution
Utilities
US utility firms spent big preparing power grid for storms – and still failed
Electric utilities spent billions after 2014’s polar vortex to ensure power plants and the grid could handle extreme cold, but this winter it still wasn’t enough.
Utilities
Why is eco-conscious California spending millions to support natural gas?
A Los Angeles-area air board faces questions over grant spending amid some of the worst air pollution in the US.
Utilities
The $287 million pipeline no one needed? How Spire's ambitions almost left St. Louis without heat
The gas company sowed panic in a bare-knuckle marketing campaign after a court ordered the shutdown of its STL pipeline.
Utilities
Winter gas bill from hell: Oklahomans face paying $1.4 billion over snowstorm
Customers saddled with paying 600 times the usual price for energy as regulators are accused of being too close to the industry they monitor.
Utilities
A historically Black town stood in the way of a pipeline – so developers claimed it was mostly white
When residents in Union Hill, Virginia, decried the pipeline as a form of environmental racism, the energy company insisted it wasn’t.