The Campaign for Local Power in Boulder, Colorado. Credit: Campaign for Local Power.
As anyone who has paid a giant electric or water bill knows, utilities are big business. Today in the United States, multinational companies have bought up these formerly public institutions. In the name of efficiency and economies of scale – not to mention profit– many cities have sold their electricity generation stations, given up on public transport, and privatized their water.
Corporate management of previously public goods has led to dreadful human costs: from scores of low income residents of Detroit having their water turned off to some of the highest internet prices in the world. It has deprived citizens of the right to collectively decide how to administer urban services, or to control levels of environmental sustainability.
