Friend,

Even before the pandemic, many families across the country had to choose between turning on the heat or buying food and other necessities. Now that millions of people have lost their incomes, we’re facing a massive utility shutoff crisis.

What’s worse, this disproportionately affects communities of color and low-wealth communities, who spend a greater portion of their income on energy bills.¹ In Detroit, for example, the median energy burden for Black households is 54% higher than white households.²

And when people can’t afford their utility bills, not only do they lose electricity, but they face mounting debt and can become homeless. Meanwhile, utility CEOs and investors rake in profits: Most of our energy systems are profit-driven, privately-owned monopolies.

Utilities should be public goods for everyone, which is why I’m cosponsoring Rep. Cori Bush’s and Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s Public Power Resolution. This legislation maps out a transition to publicly-owned energy utilities, as well as a transition to renewable energy—including banning utility shutoffs and expanding job-creating energy efficiency and weatherization programs.

I’ve been one of the leaders pushing to ban utility shutoffs (including water) during the pandemic and beyond, and have secured funding for low-income households to help with their utility bills as part of House-passed legislation. You’ve helped push for my legislation like the Emergency Water is a Human Right Act, which includes a moratorium on water and energy shutoffs. But to make sure we can actually stop utility shutoffs, we need to pass legislation through the Senate and get it to President Biden’s desk. That means we must assert people’s right to power and water in as many pieces of legislation as possible.

If you agree that every single person in this country should have the electricity and temperature control they need for basic survival, will you add your name to co-sponsor Public Power?

Over the past year, extreme weather events led to people freezing to death in Texas and dying in California wildfires. These deaths were preventable, caused by utilities that failed to upgrade their equipment despite warnings.

After years of causing deadly wildfires in California, the state’s largest utility (PG&E) has still failed to update its degraded power lines.

Instead, PG&E mandates energy shutoffs during times of high fire risk, often coinciding with record heat waves. This cost-cutting strategy just creates other deadly conditions, disproportionately endangering poor, elderly, and disabled people—especially people who rely on electric medical equipment or refrigerated medication.³

As extreme weather events increase with climate change, we need to build resilient power systems.

But instead, private utilities raise rates and cut corners, making our energy not just unaffordable, but unreliable. And they have a stranglehold over politics, especially at the state level, where they often block renewable energy and undermine the transition away from fossil fuels.⁴

Most utilities want us to maintain the status quo, with a worsening climate and continuing pollution in Black and brown communities like mine.

We need a new system of energy in our country that puts our people and our planet first, with power that’s renewable and affordable. We all deserve quality energy systems—not poorly maintained ones that are designed to maximize profits and put people in harm’s way.

If we can pass the Public Power resolution led by Reps. Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, that would transform our power system to be just, equitable, anti-racist, and climate- and disaster-resilient. But we need to show massive support for such a bold bill in order to move it through Congress.

Please sign now to co-sponsor the Public Power resolution to make power publicly owned.

Thank you!

In solidarity,

Rashida