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Building People Power

Duke/Kochs' Control of Government

Duke Energy and others in the energy industry consistently use deceptive public relations – and millions of customer dollars – to distort the debate over important decisions. Duke’s control over NC state government is significant. We must face this “inconvenient truth” in order to make the shift to clean, safe energy. This corporate influence has, in the words of Dr. James Hansen, wounded our democracy.

Particularly egregious are efforts by Duke, the Koch brothers and other industry powers to slow the growth of solar energy and, in North Carolina, to prevent competition from third-party providers of no-upfront-cost solar deals that put solar energy within reach of many more homeowners and businesses. Another good example of corporate power is the passage in some states of Construction Work in Progress laws that allow utilities to charge customers in advance for building expensive new plants that aren’t even needed.

In 2015, Duke Energy, the Koch Brothers and others successfully kept the Energy Freedom bill bottled up in committee at the NC legislature. The bill would have opened up NC to third-party solar deals. Read about our 2015 Duke Hates Solar campaign in support of the bill.

Read about our Solar Freedom project at Faith Community Church in Greensboro — a test case in the state’s ban on third-party sales of electricity.

Direct Appeals for Dialogue with Duke Energy

NC WARN has repeatedly reached out to Duke Energy executives, seeking to collaborate with them on moving away from obstructionism and toward a clean energy future. A few examples are listed here.

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Bill allowing renewable-power sales direct to N.C. consumers could be a boon for solar — Charlotte Business Journal

N.C. Rep. John Szoka made good Monday on a recent promise to submit a bill allowing renewable-energy developers to sell power directly to customers in North Carolina, bypassing the state’s utilities.

While he was still drafting the “Energy Freedom Act,” Szoka said he expected the legislation would be limited to sales to government offices, not-for profit organizations and military bases. His thinking was that it would save taxpayers and nonprofits money and could be a step toward more general “third-party sales” from renewable-energy project owners to customers.

Truth: Rooftop Solar Capacity Benefits All Ratepayers — RenewableEnergyWorld.com

The utility and fossil-fuel industries continue to spread a crude canard against the growing popularity of rooftop solar across America. The lie goes something like this: Households and business that install photovoltaic panels are doing so at the expense of other electricity ratepayers because they are “subsidized” by those that don’t have solar panels.

Solarize program aims to make solar power affordable — News & Record

If energy activist Jim Warren has anything to say about it, solar panels one day will grace the rooftops of every suitable house, store, office and factory statewide.

But he and his Solarize NC program are taking it a few cities at a time, and the Greensboro area is next on their agenda.

Debunking Duke Energy’s Anti-Solar Lobbying in NC — News Release from NC WARN

A number of U.S. utilities have been trying to stop the growth of rooftop solar electricity by claiming it hurts low- and fixed-income customers and people of color. Such solar-bashing has been thoroughly discredited, but now Duke Energy lobbyists and other hired guns are spreading it among African-American community leaders and among legislative Democrats.

NC WARN today begins an effort to expose this cynical corporate effort to divide people, including circulation of a new Issue Brief to elected officials, the news media and community leaders.