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Daniel Tait

@taitdl.bsky.social
3K followers 1.8K following 475 posts

Utility watchdog. Clean energy advocate. Tips, leads, and leaks welcome. DM for Signal. Based in Huntsville, AL.

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Reposted by Daniel Tait
Energy and Policy Institute @energyandpolicy.org · 07/10/2026
Last year, Gov. Sarah Huckabee signed the "Generating Arkansas Jobs Act" into law, despite concerns it would shift costs from utilities to ratepayers. Now lawmakers are airing those concerns publicly.
arkansasonline.com
Some state lawmakers voice concerns about utility rates under Generating Arkansas Jobs Act | Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Some state legislators were concerned in spring 2025 that the new Generating Arkansas Jobs Act would shift costs from utilities to ratepayers. A year and a half later, those concerns remain.
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Reposted by Daniel Tait
Energy and Policy Institute @energyandpolicy.org · 17/08/2026
EPI's @taitdl.bsky.social told @insideclimatenews.org that NextEra's reversal on its outspoken support for clean energy "calls into question how serious they are about any claim that they make." They are a "political chameleon," he said. bit.ly/4hE7d7u
bit.ly
How the World’s Largest Electric Company Fell Quiet on Renewable Energy - Inside Climate News
For years, NextEra Energy boasted it was a “leading clean energy company.” Now, as renewable energy faces political opposition, it’s stopped emphasizing that.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
My colleague Gabriel Straus: "The last thing you want to hear when you are struggling to make ends meet is your utility commissioner is sipping cocktails at a resort with the utility executives raising your rates." www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
washingtonpost.com
How utility and tech firms ‘educate’ regulators with big donations, secret retreats
While consumers object to high energy costs and data center development, utility and tech companies are sponsoring events for friendly regulators.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
If it were truly educational, it wouldn't be hidden behind doors only open to large corporate donors.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Elizabeth Gianini, who runs the Roundtable, got cold feet too. She emailed that she was "getting nervous about the noticing requirements," worried the event might end up "open to the Public and or Press."
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Iowa's Josh Byrnes was on the invite list for a dinner with "potential investor" Southern Company. "This is probably something I should not be involved with. I always ask myself, how would you explain that to a ratepayer?" Why does Southern need to be meeting with him anyway?
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Alabama's Jeremy Oden got invited months before his primary. He had already signed onto a Roundtable effort to shield utilities from a federal monopoly review. Still wrote to a consultant: "I would really like to go to this but don't know if it is a good idea." He did not go.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
A North Carolina commissioner, Tommy Tucker, who expensed $2,274 for one of these events: "There is no conflict whatsoever. It is educational." Two of his colleagues looked at the same invitation and well, they disagreed.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
$50,000 gets a utility or tech company the chance to "engage directly with these key decision-makers" and provide expertise that "can help steer policy." The Regulators Roundtable says it's all educational. The "decision-makers"? The commissioners who set your electric rates. 🧵
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Reposted by Daniel Tait
Sue Sturgis @suesturgis.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Duke Energy Progress just filed a settlement proposal in its NC rate case (Docket E-2, Sub 1380) that could change what customers pay starting in 2027. Quick thread on what's actually in it -- and why this is not a done deal. 🧵
starw1.ncuc.gov
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
NextEra CEO says Florida shows what Dominion customers can expect. Let's look: 1. Biggest rate hike ever, $6.9B (originally asked for $9.8B). 2. Ghost candidate scheme w/ a felony conviction and an abrupt FPL CEO retirement. Virginia, he's not wrong! www.eenews.net/articles/nex...
eenews.net
NextEra boss points to Florida as what to expect from proposed Dominion merger
“We've faced significant growth in Florida for 20 straight years, and have been able to do it by investing in new generation while keeping bills
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Reposted by Daniel Tait
Sue Sturgis @suesturgis.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Duke Energy CEO Harry Sideris told investors on today's 2Q earnings call that customers are "struggling with gas prices, rent, healthcare." Meanwhile, Duke increased its dividend, reaffirmed double-digit growth targets, and is requesting hundreds of millions more from NC ratepayers. 🧵
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Entergy Louisiana: a Texas LLC owned by a Delaware corporation. SWEPCO: a Delaware corporation run out of Columbus, Ohio. Cleco: owned by Australia's Macquarie and Canadian pension funds. The out-of-state money is on their side of the table. lailluminator.com/2026/07/03/u... 2/2
lailluminator.com
Environmental groups worry proposed rule could chill debate before Louisiana's utility regulators • Louisiana Illuminator
The Louisiana Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities across the state, is considering adopting a new rule that would require any group that seeks to intervene in regulatory proceedings t...
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Louisiana's PSC may force any group that intervenes in a utility case to swear an affidavit disclosing all its out-of-state funding. Backing the rule: Cleco, Entergy Louisiana, and SWEPCO. All asked to be exempt. So let's read their own paperwork... 1/2
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
The reason that's hard to quantify: no centralized market here, no locational marginal prices. The report calls the Southeast a "geographic gap" in national congestion analyses. Opacity is by design to protect monopoly utilities. www.latitudemedia.com/news/the-sou...
latitudemedia.com
The Southeast is missing out on cheaper power from PJM and MISO
The Department of Energy estimates the region needs to build transmission lines connecting it to neighboring markets.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
DOE's draft 2026 National Transmission Needs Study: connecting the Southeast to PJM and MISO would cut prices here about $10/MWh on average, up to $28/MWh in extreme weather years. DOE also notes the Southeast is the only region that hasn't already addressed at least one of its transmission needs.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Then the everyday record: Florida led the nation in shutoffs (2.1M in 2024, 60%+ from FPL per author). FPL recently won a $6.9B rate hike and has cleared $21 billion in profit since 2021. Yikes. richmond.com/opinion/colu...
richmond.com
Take it from a Floridian: You don’t want NextEra in Virginia | Guest column
As Virginia regulators consider NextEra Energy's $67 billion takeover of Dominion Energy, Floridians warn that the utility giant's record of rate hikes, mass disconnections, political controversies an...
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Federal appeals judges said a securities fraud complaint against NextEra/FPL "has it all: bribery, off-the-books recordkeeping, surveilling journalists, creating ghost candidates... two federal indictments." NextEra denied it, then settled for $150M.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
A Floridian just wrote a warning to Virginia as regulators weigh NextEra's $67B takeover of Dominion. The short version: you don't want this company to set up shop in VA.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Me to TVA: I would like a copy of the agreement you talked about in a federal filing. TVA: OMG that is SOOOO hard. It's an "unusual" request and we definitely can't find that PDF within the next like 3-4 weeks. What a joke.
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Reposted by Daniel Tait
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 24/05/2026
exercising my god given right under the constitution to live mas and get baja blasted
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Reposted by Daniel Tait
Miriam Wasser @miriamwasser.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
When your utility asks state regulators to let them raise rates, they often hire expensive consultants and outside lawyers to help them make their case. Then you, the ratepayer, foot the bill. www.wbur.org/news/2026/04... @wbur.org #energysky
wbur.org
When utilities ask to raise rates, customers pay the legal fees. A bill in Mass. would change that
Lawmakers are considering legislation that would prohibit utilities from passing on rate case expenses to their customers. Instead, the utility would foot the bill, taking the money out of its shareho...
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Pretty wild to see Tuberville advocating for BIGGER government. Especially considering we already have an energy department as part of ADECA! (Un)fun fact: the State of Alabama has starved this energy division of funding. Maybe there’s a connection… 🤔 1819news.com/news/item/tu...
1819news.com
Tuberville floats establishing Alabama secretary of energy as…
If elected governor, Tuberville suggested establishing a secretary of energy to represent the entire state of Alabama and oversee all things…
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Long time Alabama PSC Executive Director and Chief Administrative Law Judge is retiring. www.al.com/news/2026/02...
al.com
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Alabama Power is so scared of voters that they want to take away your right to vote for utility regulators. www.wbrc.com/2026/02/05/l...
wbrc.com
Lawmakers propose ending Public Service Commission elections, appointing state utility regulators
Legislation introduced Thursday would eliminate voters’ ability to elect the Alabama Public Service Commission (APSC), the three-person board that sets utility rates across the state. Instead, those s...
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
If your thesis is 'trust the monopoly, the regulator will save you,' you should probably not be writing it on behalf of a group funded by monopoly utilities with notoriously lax regulators.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Real customer protection looks like transparent planning, hard prudence reviews, disallowing imprudent costs, ending automatic pass-through trackers, and not letting utilities socialize risk while privatizing returns.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
So yes: cost overruns are a problem. But it’s hard to take the lecture seriously when it’s selectively aimed at competitors while the regulated-monopoly record includes some of the biggest overruns in modern U.S. energy history.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Georgia Power (Southern Company) is Exhibit A. Plant Vogtle’s two new reactors were approved around $14B and ended up north of $30B (AP reports about $35B). That’s the kind of customer protection that shows up as a line item for the next 30 years.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Cool. Now apply the same standard to the monopoly side of the house, especially Power for Tomorrow’s members.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Then comes the competitive transmission dunk: a New York project that bid 22% under the utility, then blew past its cost cap (about $74M) and landed at $249M (up 38% from the winning bid).
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Also, where is this good regulation they keep bragging about? In Alabama’s regulated monopoly world, customers pay the 3rd highest average residential electric bill in the entire country. If that’s the good version, congrats on the horror show!
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
The argument depends on pretending monopoly utility rates are not climbing. Meanwhile, 2025 saw a record ~$30.5B in utility rate hike requests. www.rtoinsider.com/124520-us-ut...
rtoinsider.com
U.S. Utility Rate Increase Requests Topped $30B in 2025
A newly published review of utilities serving 81.1 million U.S. customers found $30.5 billion in 2025 rate hike requests.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
The op-ed claims vertically integrated monopoly utilities “shield customers” and put “the customer front and center.” Sure. Like how casinos put the customer front and center, right next to the ATM.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
RTO Insider ran an op-ed asking “Where are utilities best serving customers?” Spoiler: the author is an exec at Power for Tomorrow, a utility-funded group that exists to tell you monopolies are good actually. www.rtoinsider.com/123973-where...
rtoinsider.com
Where are Utilities Best Serving Customers?
The governors of states in PJM’s territory met at the White House to discuss the flailing market and more.
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Reposted by Daniel Tait
Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
executions in the street.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Irreparable damage has been done to American automakers by this Administration.
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Reposted by Daniel Tait
misorao.bsky.social @misorao.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
harpers.org/archive/2026...
harpers.org
Power Brokers, by Nick Bowlin
What’s really behind your soaring utility bills
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Reposted by Daniel Tait
isaac @sevier.io · 01/12/2025
More journalists should join @emilypont.bsky.social imo and keep digging here on the unsubstantiated claims that lowering ROE rates will cause equity flight! Why is this commonly believed? What's really behind the claim? What happens? Who decides?
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
No.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
This level of "confidentiality" is BS and completely arbitrary. Shame on the utilities for hiding basic information like the estimated costs of a transmission line behind an NDA.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
It was a (Not) Happy Thanksgiving for NextEra and Florida Power & Light! Their dirty deeds with Matrix are back in the news with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against the company and kicking the case back down to the lower court. jaxtrib.org/2025/11/28/r...
jaxtrib.org
Resurrected lawsuit puts FPL's past controversies back in the spotlight
The federal appeals court decision could re-open the company's old wounds from a series of controversies across Florida.
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
“The fine print shows it’s a deferral strategy, not a reduction,” Tait said. “It’s just a broken attempt to help the utility weather a storm of criticism for its high bills and abnormally high profits.” insideclimatenews.org/news/2511202...
insideclimatenews.org
Alabama Power Seeks to Delay Rate Hike for New Gas Plant Amid Outcry - Inside Climate News
Alabama’s largest electric utility has proposed delaying an approved rate increase for an extra year amid a public outcry surrounding high utility bills.  Alabama Power customers will still see an inc...
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
The most basic information is routinely redacted in Georgia and it is absolutely shameful. Here, we have 15 potential projects totaling 7 GW of power and the public is not allowed to know how much they will cost, even in aggregate! Dereliction of duty.
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The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 06/11/2025
Your cat when you're choking to death in your apartment
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Good news from TVA today! TVA is greenlighting up to 1,500 MW of energy storage and slated to be online by the end of 2029. 🔋🔋🔋
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Reposted by Daniel Tait
Caroline Spears @spears.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
This Georgia Upset Is the Real Preview of 2026
Pocketbook issues took center stage in Democratic victories in Virginia, New Jersey and New York Tuesday night, as well as in a usually obscure election in Georgia. Because Georgia is far more of a sw...
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Reposted by Daniel Tait
isaac @sevier.io · 06/11/2025
"In Georgia, Tait said the lesson is bipartisan: “Monopoly investor-owned utilities are deeply unpopular.” And regardless of political affiliation, he added, “politicians need to think twice” about aligning with utility companies." nice
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Daniel Tait @taitdl.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
“This was a referendum on Georgia Power and high electric bills,” said Daniel Tait, research and communications director at the nonprofit utility watchdog group @energyandpolicy.org san.com/cc/high-elec...
san.com
High electric bills proved a motivating issue for voters in Georgia, New Jersey
From Georgia to New Jersey, rising electricity bills were on millions of voters’ minds as they cast ballots on Tuesday.
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