An Electric Revolution, Chapter Nine: A Call to Action
Citizens also must demand a shift in regulatory policy so that it’s no longer acceptable for an unchallenged utility to decide what’s best for consumers. Policy should enable businesses to compete to fulfill consumer needs — and even create new ones — with the best ideas winning in the marketplace. When an unlimited number of the best and brightest creative minds, including those of consumers, have the freedom to improve the system, the potential for success is unlimited, with perfection almost assured.
The nation’s leaders, including elected officials in Washington and the 50 state capitals, need to hear this from citizen-consumers. Just as the American Revolution finally erupted from public frustration with a government that did not respond to legitimate concerns, the same is true of an Electric Revolution. It hinges on the collective voices and actions of a people who recognize how adversely they and future generations are affected by an increasingly dysfunctional electricity system.
The unreliability, inefficiencies, waste, environmental impact and resulting extreme costs are clear. So is the resistance to change from those who make and regulate electricity, however instinctive it might be to defend the status quo. While the establishment can be excused for its natural inclination to preserve a known system, a failure to intelligently evolve — to support, enhance and embrace the far superior intelligent alternative that’s now developing — is unforgivable. In fact, reforming and reinventing the nation’s electricity system is nothing more than simple common sense.
