Communities in California and Puerto Rico are disputing governance by rejecting the current structure of their electricity system – and taking it back to the people
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“Our connection to the outside world is satellite internet – so no power, no internet,” Alexandre says. He and others at Shelterwood Collective were left without power for two weeks in early 2023 when massive storms hit California. “We ran the generator two to three hours daily to check in with the outside world and let people know we were OK.”
In 2010, PG&E malfeasance caused an explosion in San Bruno, California, blowing a hole in a major city and killing eight people. In 2018, PG&E’s crumbling electrical grid started a fire that ravaged Paradise, also in California, killing 85 people and burning 14,000 homes.
Milbern continued, “I use life-sustaining medical equipment – my ventilator – 16 hours a day. My doctor completed extensive paperwork telling PG&E why I need power to live. When I called PG&E, I was on hold for two hours. I hadn’t received any notice from PG&E, but my house was on four different maps as losing power. To PG&E, my life is not important.”
“Everyone waits in fear of a Wall Street corporation pressing a red button to turn their power on or off,” says Pete Woiwode, co-director of the That cohort includes fire-affected migrants in Sonoma County, Black high school students in East Oakland, immigrant elders in Oakland Chinatown, and queer and trans people of color acting as land stewards at Shelterwood. Through the cohort, 10 organizations thus far have learned about the energy system, their own consumption needs, and emerging technology.JOAN Lora inspects a propane tank damaged by a fallen tree during the winter 2023 storms in Northern California.
LAYEL Camargo and Nikola Alexandre stand amidst the burn piles at Shelterwood in May 2023. The land stewards did controlled burns on their land. Photo by Brooke Anderson“When I heard about the counts of manslaughter against PG&E after fires, I felt like it was my responsibility that if I was going to be in charge of electrical infrastructure for a 900-acre forest I would want to be less dependent on a company where our values are not aligned,” Camargo says.
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, Casa Pueblo distributed 14,000 solar lanterns to residents, reducing the risk of fire by candlelight and the vulnerability of elders. It equipped 10 homes with extra energy for dialysis and small refrigerators for insulin and antibiotics to meet critical health needs. With their solar power, they set up a public satellite phone, which people lined up to use to contact their families.
“Energy is the capacity to do work. We don’t enjoy the wealth made from our work. One way to decolonize Puerto Rico is in practical terms: To create energy independence. We can be producers, not consumers. We don’t need coal and gas. We have sun and wind,” Massol Deyá says. “We’re calling for an energy insurrection. We’re not going to wait for the government. We’re going to unplug ourselves.
It will take statewide policy change to dismantle private utilities like PG&E and to truly move an energy transition at scale. To get there, microgrids – like at Shelterwood and Casa Pueblo – make concrete improvements in people’s lives, foster familiarity with the technology, bring the conversation into people’s homes, allow to practice self-governance in place, and ignite political imaginations about an energy future beyond private utility companies.
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