Leading Through Energy Affordability: The Watchdogs Inside the Room (S5:E8)

Leading Through Energy Affordability: The Episode That Predicted This Season (S5:E11)

The pendulum always swings towards justice. That's what Dr. Tony Reames told host, Carolyn Parrs in the last season of the Just Power podcast. It's the thread that has quietly connected every conversation in the Leading Through Energy Affordability series since. Dr. Tony Reames built the first-ever Office of Energy Justice Policy and Analysis at the U.S. Department of Energy and now directs the Detroit Sustainability Clinic, where he works alongside communities navigating the very pressures this series has been mapping all season. In this replay from Season 4, he speaks candidly about what a credible response to energy affordability actually requires — from utility CEOs, from state regulators, from the rest of us — and why the answers have always been closest to the people carrying the burden. Highlights The federal retreat has happened before, and the playbook for what comes next is already being written at the state and local level. Your utility commissioner may be the most powerful person you've never thought to pay attention to. Data centers are the new boom towns, and communities are getting the burden without the benefits. Detroit is already writing the blueprint for what utilities and communities can build together. The answers are closest to the people carrying the heaviest energy burden — if we stop and listen. About our guest, Dr. Tony Reames: Tony is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of energy and environmental justice, as well as a senior government policy advisor. He is the Tishman Professor of Environmental Justice position and an associate professor at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonygreames/ About our host, Carolyn Parrs: Carolyn has spent 25 years at the intersection of clean energy, strategic communications, and human change. She is the creator and host of Just Power, and a certified Co-Active coach working with leaders navigating meaningful transitions. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/] Just Power Podcast: Just Power is about the human side of the energy transition — the leaders, the tradeoffs, and the real-world impacts that don't make it into the headlines. Featuring voices from utilities, policy, technology, and frontline communities. 🔔 Never Miss an Episode of This Series! Subscribe Now. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast?sub_confirmation=1 💖 Spread the Love Like, comment, and share this episode with a friend, policymaker, or energy provider who needs to hear this. YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570758944075] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/just_power_podcast/] New Mexico State University Microlearning [https://global.nmsu.edu/microlearning/] Mind Over Markets [https://mindovermarkets.com/] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/]

Leading Through Energy Affordability: An Open Door Isn't a Seat at the Table (S5:E10)

Most people will never set foot in an energy regulatory proceeding. And for the ones who do show up — without a lawyer, without technical expertise, without money to intervene — showing up is often where their influence ends. Jolette Westbrook spent eight years as a utility commissioner in Massachusetts watching that dynamic play out, and she's spent the years since working to dismantle it. As a Director and Senior Attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund, she's one of the people most focused on turning community participation from a checkbox into something that actually changes outcomes. Highlights * An open door is not the same as a seat at the table — and the difference lives in a part of the process most people never hear about. * The communities most affected are also the least resourced to fight back — so what does it actually take to change that? * Massachusetts tried something — and two years later, there are real answers about what stuck and what didn't. * The incentive structure for utilities can be rewired — and some states are already doing it. * The word "equity" is under pressure — but the problem it describes isn't going anywhere. * Being heard isn't the same as being listened to — Jolette draws a distinction that reframes what accountability actually means. About our guest, Jolette Westbrook: Jolette is Director & Senior Attorney, Regulatory Solutions at Environmental Defense Fund, where she works with regulators, utilities, consumer advocates and communities to advance affordable, equitable and consumer-centered energy policies. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/environmental-defense/ * Community Voices in Energy [https://communityvoicesinenergy.org/]: Website with tools and training to help communities shape affordable, equitable energy decisions * EDF/Environmental Law Institute CLE Webinar #1 [http://edf/Environmental%20Law%20Institute%20CLE%20Webinar%20#2:%20Building%20an%20energy%20future%20that%20leaves%20no%20one%20behind]: Energy affordability and the power of community voices * EDF/Environmental Law Institute CLE Webinar #2 [https://www.eli.org/events/community-lawyering-environmental-justice-part-15-building-energy-future-leaves-no-one]: Building an energy future that leaves no one behind * EDF Statement from Jolette [https://www.edf.org/media/massachusetts-takes-major-step-reduce-energy-burdens-low-income-residents]: Massachusetts takes major step to reduce energy burdens for low-income residents * EDF Co-Authored Report [https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2023/05/05/new-report-aims-to-help-massachusetts-put-the-public-back-in-public-utilities/]: Recommendations to make Massachusetts energy decision-making more equitable and community-driven * EDF Intervenor Compensation Blog Post [https://blogs.edf.org/energyexchange/2025/05/20/intervenor-compensation-supporting-public-participation-in-utility-decisions/]: Supporting public participation in utility decisions About our host, Carolyn Parrs: Carolyn has spent 25 years at the intersection of clean energy, strategic communications, and human change. She is the creator and host of Just Power, and a certified Co-Active coach working with leaders navigating meaningful transitions. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/] Just Power Podcast: Just Power is about the human side of the energy transition — the leaders, the tradeoffs, and the real-world impacts that don't make it into the headlines. Featuring voices from utilities, policy, technology, and frontline communities. 🔔 Never Miss an Episode of This Series! Subscribe Now. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast?sub_confirmation=1 💖 Spread the Love Like, comment, and share this episode with a friend, policymaker, or energy provider who needs to hear this. YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570758944075] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/just_power_podcast/] New Mexico State University Microlearning [https://global.nmsu.edu/microlearning/] Mind Over Markets [https://mindovermarkets.com/] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/]

Leading Through Energy Affordability: Rewriting the Rules of Lending (S5:E9)

When you design a financial system around people instead of profit, it works. That's not a theory. For Duanne Andrade, CEO of the Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF), it's 13 years of receipts: $60 million deployed, less than 2% default rate, and 70% of borrowers are low-to-moderate income families that traditional lenders turned away. As part of our LeadingThrough Energy Affordability series, in this episode Duanne breaks down what a credible response to energy affordability actually looks like when capital flows to the people who need it most — not just the ones who look best on paper. From a widowed woman in 120-degree heat to a veteran single mom with a caving roof, SELF's model meets families where they are. Highlights * Why credit scores are the wrong metric — and what SELF uses instead to assess ability to repay * The "four-lane highway" lending model from — from conventional borrowers to zero-credit Kiva crowdfunding * How SELF manages the entire project — vetting contractors, checking for price gouging, and releasing payment only after homeowner approval * Why geography and local policy shape what affordability solutions can actually work — and why standardization has limits * The white-label "plug and play" platform for green banks and CDFIs * What energy affordability could look like in 10 years — and the role AI plays in making this mainstream About our guest, Duanne Andrade: Duane is the CEO of Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF): http://www.solarenergyloanfund.org/. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/duanneandrade/ About our host, Carolyn Parrs: Carolyn is a Strategic Communications Leader and the CEO of Mind Over Markets. mindovermarkets.com; LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/ Just Power Podcast is about the human side of the clean energy transition. The podcast focuses on grid modernization, energy affordability, and community engagement — featuring leaders from utilities, policy, technology, and frontline communities navigating the real-world impacts of energy infrastructure change. 🔔 Never Miss an Episode of This Series! Subscribe Now. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast?sub_confirmation=1 💖 Spread the Love Like, comment, and share this episode with a friend, policymaker, or energy provider who needs to hear this. YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570758944075] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/just_power_podcast/] New Mexico State University Microlearning [https://global.nmsu.edu/microlearning/] Mind Over Markets [https://mindovermarkets.com/] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/]

Leading Through Energy Affordability: The Watchdogs Inside the Room (S5:E8)

The affordability crisis isn't a fuel cost problem or an infrastructure problem — it's a power problem. Who's in the room when rates get set, who has decades of precedent on their side, and who's actually fighting for the customers that neither the utility nor the industrial intervenors are motivated to protect. John Wilson is one of those people. As Vice President at Grid Strategies, he has worked inside more than 70 utility proceedings across the US and Canada — representing consumer advocates, environmental organizations, and public interest groups.  In this episode, he's direct about what he sees: where cost accountability is actually working, where the hyperscaler contracts are setting up tomorrow's stranded asset problem, and why the most credible response to affordability isn't a policy announcement — it's sustained, expert pressure inside a system that often defaults when no one's watching. Highlights * Small businesses get the worst deal — and they have almost no power to change it. When settlements get struck between industrial and residential representatives, small businesses are consistently left on the floor. * Settlement negotiations reward incumbency. Parties with long track records and deep resources shape outcomes. Newer intervenors fight for scraps. * "We'll pay full cost" has a gap in it. Eight-to-fifteen year hyperscaler contracts on infrastructure built to last 40 years creates a cost recovery mismatch that ratepayers will eventually absorb. * Cost accountability is working — in some places. Nova Scotia's annual capital cost review is producing measurable results. It's not fast, but it's real. * The North Dakota "miracle" is a warning, not a model. Today's falling rates are an echo of stranded costs from a previous industrial boom. The data center wave could replay that story. * Enhanced geothermal may be the grid's closest thing to a silver bullet. Scalable, dispatchable, low-footprint — and the oil and gas industry already has most of the skills to build it. About our guest, John Wilson: John is a Vice President at Grid Strategies. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilsonjd/ About our host, Carolyn Parrs: Carolyn is a Senior Strategic Communications Leader and the CEO of Mind Over Markets. mindovermarkets.com; LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/ Just Power Podcast is about the human side of the clean energy transition. The podcast focuses on grid modernization, energy affordability, and community engagement — featuring leaders from utilities, policy, technology, and frontline communities navigating the real-world impacts of energy infrastructure change. 🔔 Never Miss an Episode of This Series! Subscribe Now. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast?sub_confirmation=1 💖 Spread the Love Like, comment, and share this episode with a friend, policymaker, or energy provider who needs to hear this. YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570758944075] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/just_power_podcast/] New Mexico State University Microlearning [https://global.nmsu.edu/microlearning/] Mind Over Markets [https://mindovermarkets.com/] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/]

Leading Through Energy Affordability: From Pilot to Practice With NICOR Gas (S5:E7)

The energy affordability crisis is well understood. What's less clear is what's actually holding up as credible solutions from inside the system. Meena Beyers knows. As Vice President of Business and Community Development at NICOR Gas — serving 2.3 million customers across Northern Illinois — she's doing that work right now. In this conversation with host Carolyn Parrs, Meena takes us inside several of NICOR's on-the-ground initiatives — from a Smart Neighborhood built with Habitat for Humanity to a Community Connection Center linking customers to over 350 social service providers — and shares what it actually takes to scale what's working. She also makes the case for customer choice over mandate in a region where 95% of buildings heat with natural gas, and what she'd tell policymakers still asking the wrong questions. Highlights * The Community Comfort Pilot in action: How NICOR flipped the traditional weatherization model — bringing contractors and bulk purchasing directly into a targeted neighborhood — and delivered a 20% reduction in winter energy bills for participating households. * Why Illinois is different: With 95% of buildings heating with natural gas and one of the most robust storage systems in the country, Meena explains why energy diversity is Illinois's superpower — and why a planned transition looks very different here than anywhere else. * From pilot to scale: What Meena is learning about why good pilots stall, what regulated utilities need from their regulators to move faster, and why building "change agility" is now a core utility competency. * Customer choice, not mandate: Why policies that restrict gas access — through building codes or municipal ordinances — are landing differently in communities than policymakers intended, and what that market response is telling us. * What policymakers need to ask: The questions that too rarely get asked — about real costs, real benefits, and who's actually at the table — and why Meena says it's okay to change course when the world has changed. Referenced in this podcast Nicor Gas Smart Neighborhood: Nicor Gas Smart Neighborhood – Making sustainable living affordable [https://ngsmartneighborhoods.com/] Video: Community Connection Center: https://youtu.be/4wVTqcPnpnw?si=WnXippVhz6nub6o4 [https://youtu.be/4wVTqcPnpnw?si=WnXippVhz6nub6o4] About our guest, Meena Beyers: Meena Beyers is the Vice President of Business and Community Development at NICOR Gas. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meenabeyers/ About our host, Carolyn Parrs: Carolyn is a Senior Strategic Communications Leader and the CEO of Mind Over Markets. mindovermarkets.com; LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/ Just Power Podcast is about the human side of the clean energy transition. The podcast focuses on grid modernization, energy affordability, and community engagement — featuring leaders from utilities, policy, technology, and frontline communities navigating the real-world impacts of energy infrastructure change. 🔔 Never Miss an Episode of This Series! Subscribe Now. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast?sub_confirmation=1 💖 Spread the Love Like, comment, and share this episode with a friend, policymaker, or energy provider who needs to hear this. YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570758944075] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/just_power_podcast/] New Mexico State University Microlearning [https://global.nmsu.edu/microlearning/] Mind Over Markets [https://mindovermarkets.com/] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/]