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    Opinion: AEP Blackout Demonstrates the Failures of Private Utilities on Climate Change — But Public Ownership Can Help

    By: Joseph Glandorf

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    On June 14, American Electric Power Ohio announced power outages lasting until Thursday, June 16 for nearly 170,000 residents in Columbus, part of intentional blackouts taking place across Ohio to preserve power lines from excessive stress after damage from a storm. This has been especially harmful to central Ohio residents due to the record-breaking heat wave that recently hit our region. Heatwaves are deadly as they can result in severe dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heatstroke. Vulnerable populations like children, the elderly, and those with chronic illnesses are especially at risk. These intersecting crises show the profound impacts of climate change on our communities. Private utilities like AEP have played a pivotal role in creating and exacerbating these crises, both by contributing to climate change and leaving our power systems vulnerable to it.

    The AEP blackout comes at a time when the prevalence of intense storms and extreme heat is rising. In terms of average global temperatures, 2021 was one of the seven warmest years on record, all of which had taken place since 2015. 2022 is on track to continue this dangerous warming trend. The root cause, of course, is global climate change, caused by the emission of greenhouse gasses from activities including the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil-fuel generated electric power is one of the top contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. As of 2018, AEP generated 74 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels, with the largest share, 47 percent, coming from coal — the dirtiest and highest-emitting fossil fuel. 

    As coal is proving to be increasingly uneconomical compared to renewable energy, AEP has made plans to increase the share of wind and solar power in its portfolio. In 2021, AEP released a sustainability plan with a goal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. But even the plan’s “fast transition” to renewable energy scenario leaves coal plants online until 2040, suggesting it could move even faster if it was not bound to follow the profit motive and shareholder interests at ratepayers’ expense.

    Another major — though less acknowledged — failure of AEP and other private utilities is a severe lack of investment in climate resilience for our energy systems. The already aging and fragile U.S. electric grid was built with a more stable climate system in mind. As a result, U.S. power outages linked to extreme weather have doubled since the early 2000s. Energy and climate experts have long been sounding the alarm about the vulnerability of our electric grids to more extreme heat, cold, and storms. To strengthen energy grids, experts recommend a variety of strategies, including weatherization, energy efficiency upgrades, and decentralized power supplies such as local solar power and energy storage. 

    But utility planners continue to make investment decisions based on outdated weather patterns, increasing the vulnerability of their ratepayers to blackouts. These blackouts are not the inevitable result of natural forces, as AEP might like us to believe. AEP’s choices have led us here. 

    Unfortunately, it is apparent AEP has no interest in taking the actions necessary to address its contributions to this crisis. In the HB6 scandal, an AEP-funded “dark-money” organization worked to illegally secure large ratepayer-funded subsidies to bail out two of its coal plants — while slashing renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives. As Ohioans’ electricity bills continue to fund these coal plant bailouts, AEP continues to make millions of dollars in political spending. The blackouts and recent scandal show we cannot trust a profit-hungry and politically corrupt corporation to protect our communities from climate change.

    As an alternative to private utilities like AEP, public ownership of utilities can make a real difference. Nebraska is the only U.S. state with fully publicly owned power utilities. Its network of utilities and electric cooperatives is run by publicly elected boards or city councils whose meetings are open to public comment. Today, the state can boast of electricity rates 15 percent below the national average and some of the nation’s shortest power outages and highest service ratings. Public power has enabled Nebraska to become the first and only “red state” with a statewide commitment to achieving a net-zero CO2 power grid by 2050. 

    All this and more is possible when utilities answer to ratepayers and prioritize service improvements over shareholder interests and profit. This helps explain why a movement to municipalize power utilities is growing across the United States, despite fierce opposition by private utilities to stop it.

    AEP, alongside its regulators, can and must take immediate steps to take responsibility for this crisis and redress the harm caused to its ratepayers. AEP must provide full transparency on the causes of the blackouts, issue financial compensation for harm and damages, and make electricity free for the month of June for all ratepayers impacted by the blackouts. It must then immediately work to build a comprehensive climate resilience plan, to be released publicly, to ensure severe blackouts like this do not happen again. It must also make plans to retire all its coal plants as soon as 2030 to accelerate the clean energy transition. The state, meanwhile, must repeal what remains of HB6. 

    Finally, Columbus and municipalities across Ohio should begin the process of taking public ownership over utilities like AEP to prevent these catastrophes from continuing to happen — and getting worse.

    Mutual aid resources for those impacted by the blackouts are available at cbus blackout.card.co


    Joseph Glandorf is a member of Sunrise Columbus, a youth-led climate justice organization. He is a graduate of Ohio State University and works in the nonprofit sector in Columbus.

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