AEL&P is trying to raise our electric rates this winter to pay for the upgrades they made. The problem is, they bought a Ferrari when a used Dodge Caravan would have worked just fine

How do we know it would have worked fine? Because they argued in writing a few years ago that used equipment was better for this purpose.

Now they've spent $22 million on a new facility that we don't need, and they want us to pay for it.

Sign here and urge the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to deny the rate increase.

AEL&P doesn't want us to know all this. In August at the meeting in the Juneau Assembly chambers they assured the public that they would be fully transparent. But when the Regulatory Commission of Alaska asked AEL&P for an integrated resource plan that included a study of all the different ways they could have resolved this issue, AEL&P submitted a report that was from 2009. It was nowhere near the industry standard for a report of this type.

Why would they do that? Follow the money.

A utility company doesn't work like a regular business. Think of it more like an investment. The state regulations allow for a 12.9% return on the company's investment.  There are very few investments these days that pay back 12.9% profit. That means big bucks for their shareholders.

But wait, there's more! AEL&P's parent company, Avista, wants to bring natural gas to Juneau. They've been lobbying the state and local governments for tax breaks and telling their shareholders how great it's going to be. This new generation facility could easily be outfitted to run on natural gas. While they told the public in August that they would never do such a thing, they have since told people that they wouldn't rule it out. They also refused to state in writing to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska that this facility would not run on natural gas. Double win!

AEL&P and Avista are aware of the Juneau Action and Implementation Plan, as well as all the new studies showing how damaging natural gas is to the climate and to water supplies. One industry magazine went so far as to call natural gas "stranded assets." Don't let them drag us into a new fossil fuel monopoly to support their outdated business model.

Why would we pay huge dividends to shareholders down south when we have affordable, renewable energy literally running off the mountain side?

Sign here to reject the rate increase and keep Juneau green.