Eight AGs Advocated for Ratepayer Protection against Utility Company Interests

FEBRUARY 22, 2022

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey led a coalition of eight attorneys general in comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on how utilities recover their payments to trade associations from ratepayers. Utilities often use money received from consumers through their energy bills to pay dues to organizations, such as trade associations, that influence public opinion on political and civic activities—many of which may not have interests that are aligned with ratepayers’ interests. The AGs argued in their comments that utilities should not be able to recover the cost of trade association dues when the dues do not explicitly benefit ratepayers and that FERC should promote better transparency on how funds are being used by utility companies.