Political Quotes

“in 1882 Thomas Edison invented the first electricity grid. He, of course, had done electricity before that, but he is virtually responsible for the modern-day electric grid. It was only 4 years later that George Westinghouse improved upon Edison's invention, and he gave us an electric grid that is almost identical to what we have today. That was 1882, and in 2016 we are doing it the same way we did back then. So the grid technology the utility companies rely on today is 130 years old. America's grid system makes money for utilities by generating electricity at central powerplants and delivering power to customers through power lines. That is because of George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison's programs. Costs for the infrastructure are paid by all customers based on how much power they consume, and the more electricity we use, the more we pay. This utility business model made sense for 130 years. It makes no sense anymore. Utilities never imagined that families and businesses would be able to generate their own electricity for a price cheaper than the utility powerplants. Utilities never considered that consumers would rather pay to make their homes more efficient than pay for power they don't need and don't want. Utilities didn't expect Americans would grow to believe that reducing climate-changing carbon pollution is a priority--and it is. The big power companies were wrong. Americans have embraced renewable energy and are investing in it more and more.…”