Energy Choice
                            

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Update 1: New Energy Choice Coalition Formally Launches

Advisory Board Includes Retail Supplier CEO

April 22, 2019

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Copyright 2010-19 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Karen Abbott • kabbott (at) energychoicematters.com

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Update 2, 4/23:

Since 2017, ECC has updated its web address, which is now energychoicecoalition.org

Updated, 4/22, 2:45 pm:

Robert Dillon, executive director of the Energy Choice Coalition, confirmed that the Energy Choice Coalition is an evolution of the coalition originally formed in 2017 and whose creation was exclusively first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com

Dillon said that ECC, which is nonpartisan, is currently conducting outreach to groups and state organizations, and is seeking retail suppliers, industrial customers, and consumer groups to build a coalition to be influential in the public discussion and with policymakers and regulators

In terms of activities, Dillon wants membership and the ECC executive board to set the agenda, and to direct areas where ECC is active.

Dillon did say that ECC will be engaged in both educational and advocacy activities

In terms of energy choice policy, Dillon said that, "every state is going to look different", and that, "the form and transition takes time."

Dillon wants ECC to, "help spread the gospel of consumer choice."

"We may prefer one model over the other, but that doesn't mean that we want to in any way dictate. We want to be supportive of those policies that open up markets to competition and that allow consumers a greater say in the energy and the technology that they use," Dillon said

Dillon said that he is hoping to have Pat Wood, former Texas PUC and FERC chair, join the ECC advisory board

On its website, ECC states, "The Time for competition is now - Consumers have more energy options today than ever before but not everyone lives in a place with choice. Help us change that."

In a posting on its website, ECC states, "The rapidly changing nature of electricity markets requires a coalition committed to competition. The Energy Choice Coalition will pick sides. With the consumer behind us, we will bring together a diverse group of energy suppliers, technology developers, allied organizations, and energy users both big and small to educate the public; engage policymakers and regulators through direct advocacy at the state and federal levels."

"Our goal is to identify the policy barriers to consumer choice and remove them through advocacy," ECC states in the post

"The political discussion surrounding the deregulation of electricity markets has caught the public’s attention. Energy choice was a topic in some states during the midterm elections and should be an issue for every candidate running for President in 2020, a campaign already underway in early battleground states. Now that customers have options there is an increased awareness about the energy we consume, where it comes from, and how we buy it that is hastening the transition to a cleaner and more cost-effective energy future without the need for government subsidies or overregulation," ECC states in the post

Earlier:

The Energy Choice Coalition has formally launched and begun public facing activities

The creation of an organization called the Energy Choice Coalition had previously been exclusively first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com (see story here)

The Energy Choice Coalition describes itself as, "a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the principles of consumer choice and market-based competition in the power sector."

"Every customer should have the ability to choose their energy provider in a fair and open market. Competitive markets accelerate the adoption of new technologies and are the best way to generate affordable, reliable, abundant, and environmentally responsible energy. Our mission is to educate consumers and policymakers at the federal and state level about the benefits of competition," the group states

Robert Dillon serves as executive director of the Energy Choice Coalition. Dillon previously served as communications director of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee under Chairman Lisa Murkowski.

Advisory Board members include:

JIM PRESSWOOD: president and executive director of the Earth Stewardship Alliance. He previously served as the federal energy policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council and staff attorney at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation where his focus was on clean energy and air pollution reduction policies.

BENJAMIN (BENJI) BACKER: president of the American Conservation Coalition. He serves on the Wisconsin Conservative Energy Forum’s Leadership Council and is a fellow at the Chapman Center in Seattle. He previously served as co-chair for Young Americans for Mitt Romney in Wisconsin and was named one of Red Alert’s top '30 Under 30' conservatives in 2015.

RICH BLASER: co-CEO and co-founder of Infinite Energy, a Florida-based company that supplies energy in restructured markets across the country.

ROD RICHARDSON: president of Grace Richardson Fund, a private foundation that pioneers new free-market solutions for critical issues in gridlock. Rod co-founded the Clean Capitalist Coalition, a group of think tanks and scholars exploring outside-the-box policy solutions to accelerate innovation and deployment for clean free-enterprise solutions to our energy challenges.

JOHN BERGER: president and CEO of Sunnova Energy Corp., the leading privately-held U.S. residential solar and storage service provider.

JON WELLINGHOFF: is CEO of GridPolicy, Inc., where he works to remove regulatory, policy, and institutional barriers to the widespread adoption of cost-effective distributed energy resource technologies and systems, assisting companies, governments, and consumers. He served as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 2009 to 2013.

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