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The economic disasters affecting so many people during this pandemic have made even it more clear that we must stop shutoffs of energy and water — basic human needs. Join the Network for Energy, Water, and Health in Affordable Buildings for a webinar on protecting the right to these basic necessities.
Leading innovators will share stories on how they are changing the narrative in this country on energy justice and utility service as a human right. Learn from a local organizer who mobilized during the pandemic to stop the harm perpetuated on people living with low incomes by winning a new program on debt relief from the CARES Act and from two attorneys who will share for the first time their proposal for a Bill of Rights for all utility customers
This collaborative discussion will educate, strategize for impact, and connect powerful local action to bold ideas about what it means to be “essential” before and after COVID.
Hear from:
Agustin Cabrera, Director of the RePower Los Angeles Network at the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. He will tell about how the multi-sectoral organizing of RePower led to securing a new utility-debt-forgiveness program from the nation’s largest municipal utility company, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Their innovative activism and advocacy, grounded in the principles of energy democracy, backed this program with $50 million of dedicated funding from the CARES Act. Agustin will share details that can inform how to replicate their work across the country.
Karen Lusson and Charlie Harak, attorneys at the National Consumer Law Center, will share their proposal for a national Utility Customers’ Bill of Rights. Their national perspective across multiple jurisdictions and utility governance models have informed their development of a concrete list of the obligations of state and federal policy makers, utility service providers (municipal and investor-owned), and advocates within these systems in order to end a punitive approach to poverty, utility debt, and energy insecurity.