Author:  John Farrell      Published: 8/4/2025     ILSR

ILSR teamed up with 350.org to host a discussion about how electric utilities use their monopoly power to block climate progress — and how to fight back.

If you’re fighting for clean energy, energy efficiency, and climate legislation in your state or community, a monopoly utility company is probably behind the resistance you’re facing, and this webinar is for you.

Moderated by ILSR Co-Director John Farrell and featuring climate leader and Third Act founder Bill McKibben, Professor Shelley Welton University of Pennsylvania Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, and former utility executive Mark Ellis of American Economic Liberties Project, the webinar includes a presentation summarizing ILSR’s recent report on the true costs of monopoly utility power, a panel discussion, and an audience Q&A.

Read the transcript.

View and download the presentation slides.

Panelists

Bill McKibben – Third Act

Bill McKibben is founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice. He helped found 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign, which has organized protests on every continent, including Antarctica, for climate action. He serves as the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he has won the Gandhi Peace Prize as well as honorary degrees from 20 colleges and universities. He was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes called the alternative Nobel, in the Swedish Parliament.


Mark Ellis – American Economic Liberties Project

Mark Ellis is an independent consultant and expert witness in finance and economics in utility regulatory proceedings. Previously, Mark was the Chief of Corporate Strategy and Chief Economist at Sempra, a consultant with McKinsey & Company, an analyst at ExxonMobil, and an engineer for Southern California Edison and Sanyo Electric. Mark has an MS from MIT’s Technology and Policy Program and a BS in mechanical engineering from Harvard.

Shelley Welton – University of Pennsylvania Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Shelley Welton is Presidential Distinguished Professor of Law and Energy Policy with the Kleinman Center and Penn Carey Law. Welton previously was an Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law. Welton’s scholarship focuses on how climate change is transforming energy and environmental governance within the United States and transnationally. Current research projects include exploring a just energy transition for the U.S. south; understanding what lessons the failed nuclear renaissance offers for climate infrastructure development; and investigating grid reliability governance under climate change. Her scholarship has appeared in publications including the Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, California Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Michigan Law Review, and Harvard Environmental Law Review.


Moderator

John Farrell – Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR)

John Farrell is a co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and directs the Energy Democracy Initiative. Widely known as the guru of distributed energy, he has received accolades for his vivid illustrations of the economic and environmental benefits of local ownership of decentralized renewable energy. He hosts the Local Energy Rules podcast, discussing monopoly power, energy democracy, and how communities can take charge to transform the energy system. He frequently discusses the ownership and scale of the energy system on LinkedIn.