Utility Fraud and Corruption Are Threatening the Clean Energy Transition

Source: Mother Jones  |  By Mario Alejandro Ariza and Kristi E. Swartz

Utility fraud and corruption—in Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, and South Carolina—have cost electricity customers at least $6.6 billion, according to Floodlight’s analysis. Like waiters with a guaranteed tip, many power companies operate as state-sanctioned monopolies that collect government-guaranteed returns on their investments. The companies increase returns by building new power plants and transmission lines, and by jealously defending their turf—even if it hurts consumers and the environment. 

“I’m actually flummoxed by why the [utility] CEOs and executives would revert to corruption,” said Mark Toney of the nonprofit Utility Reform Network, “when the record is, you can make so much more if you’re focused on just running the scam that it is.”