Press
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New York Times Features PowerLines’ Polling to Highlight American Concerns Over Rising Utility Bills
Power Bills Are Squeezing Georgians. Voters Could Do Something About It. Georgia is one of 10 states with elected, rather than appointed, utility regulators, who play a key role in energy and climate policy. So this week’s primary and the general election in November, when Mr. Echols’s seat and another will be up for grabs, will…
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PowerLines Emphasizes the Crisis of Rising Energy Bills in New York Times
The cost of electricity is rising across the country, forcing Americans to pay more on their monthly bills and squeezing manufacturers and small businesses that rely on cheap power. And some of President Trump’s policies risk making things worse, despite his promises to slash energy prices, companies and researchers say. This week, the Senate is…
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PowerLines Launches Jobs Board Connecting Energy Professionals and Public Utilities Commissions
As state regulators tackle increasingly complex energy challenges, PowerLines is building a talent pipeline of energy professionals. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, PowerLines is launching a Public Utilities Commission jobs board created to connect public interest-minded energy professionals to opportunities at state public utilities commissions (PUCs). Through the PUC jobs board, PowerLines aims to raise awareness…
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Skyrocketing Utility Bills Nationwide Leave American Consumers Feeling Stressed, Powerless
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new poll from nonpartisan consumer education nonprofit PowerLines, conducted in partnership with Ipsos, finds that three in four (73%) Americans are concerned about electric and gas utility bills rising this year, with four in five (80%) Americans saying they feel powerless over how much they are charged for utilities. These results…
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PowerLines Joins the Shift Key Podcast
PowerLines Founder Charles Hua joins Robinson Meyer & Jesse Jenkins on Heatmap’s Shift Key podcast to discuss the hidden power of public utilities commissions (PUCs) and why they will be particularly important as demand for electricity continues to surge. PUCs shape how utilities invest billions of dollars, determine who pays for new energy infrastructure, and…
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PowerLines Promotes Awareness and Education of PUCs in Grist
The race for clean energy is local Such markets exist in almost all of the country, save the Southeast, where the makers and sellers of electricity operate with legally protected monopolies in their service territories. If you live in Georgia, Alabama, or Mississippi, for instance, your location within the state determines which power company is…
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PowerLines Highlights the Power of State PUCs in Canary Media
Clean energy is on the ballot in these utility regulator races “These PUC commissioners have the power to determine people’s utility bills, the quality of their utility service, and how their utilities are making investments in different forms of energy,” PUC advocate Charles Hua told Canary Media. “Yet, few people can name their state’s PUC commissioners or explain what they do.” After stints…
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PowerLines Discusses PUC Elections with Heatmap News
3 Small Elections With Big Consequences for Clean Energy Charles Hua, the founder of a new nonprofit called Powerlines that aims to raise awareness about the importance of these regulators, told me his group has found that over the last decade, about one in 10 voters in states with utility commission elections skipped that part…
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PowerLines Profiled in E&E News
Former DOE officials join new group aiming to cut energy bills A former Department of Energy policy adviser launched a nonprofit this week that aims to modernize utility regulations and lower energy bills. Charles Hua, who worked in DOE’s loan office during the Biden administration, will lead PowerLines, which will focus on the regulation of…
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PowerLines Launches on Volts Podcast
Public utility commissions (PUCs) wield enormous influence in the US energy transition — they regulate the monopolistic utilities at the heart of America’s electricity system but face little public scrutiny. Now, energy analyst Charles Hua is launching PowerLines, a nonprofit that aims to pull PUCs into the spotlight. In this episode, we discuss the problems…