The Energy Justice Stakes Embedded in the Net Energy Metering Policy Debates

• Author: Shalanda H. Baker
• Pages: 57-89

57

Chapter 4

The Energy Justice Stakes

Embedded in the Net Energy

Metering Policy Debates

Shalanda H. Baker

I. Introduction

On October 29, 2012, at 7:30 p.m., a peculiar storm that shared the features

of both a tropical storm and hurricane made land fall in Brigantine, New Jer-

sey.1 Superstorm Sandy wrought havoc in New Jersey and New York, leading

to catastrophic economic losses in the United States totaling approximately

$50 billion, which made the storm the “second costliest cyclone to hit the

United States since 1900,” and directly causing the deaths of 147 people, 72

of which occurred in the Mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States.2

Superstorm Sandy appeared indiscriminate in its impact; however, the

most severely aected people appeared to be those with the least ability to

bounce back from the storm.3 As a study conducted by New York City Oce

of the Mayor notes: “More than 400 New York City Housing Authority

(NYCHA) buildings containing approximately 35,000 housing units lost

power, heat, or hot water during Sandy.”4 is amount of aected NYCHA

units exceeds the number of total public housing units of any public housing

authority in the United States, with the exception of Puerto Rico.5 Accord ing

1. C  N Y,A S, M R N Y 12 (2013), available at https://www.

nycedc.com/resource/stronger-more-resilient-new-york [hereinafter C  N Y].

2. E S. B  ., N’ H C., T C R H S 1

(2013), available at www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL182012_Sandy.pdf.

3. C  N Y, supra note 1, at 14.

4. Id.

5. F C.  R E  U P  ., S’ E  H  N Y

C 4 (2013), available at http://furmancenter.org/les/publications/SandysEectsOnHousingIn-

Author’s Note:e editors of this volume provided invaluable input on the content of this

chapter, as did Jennie C. Stephens and members of the Working Group in the New York

Public Service Commission Value of Distributed Energy Resources Proceeding. Anastasia

Doherty provided excellent research assistance.

58 Beyond Zero-Sum Environmentalism

to the Furman Center for Real Estate a nd Urban Policy at New York Univer-

sity, nearly 20% of NYCHA’s 178,000 total housing units were in buildings

that experienced some sort of damage with the storm, and “[m]any of the

nearly 80,000 residents of these [damaged] buildings were left without heat

or electricity” due to basement ooding.6 In addition, the storm impacted

approximately 24,500 of the city’s 178,000 privately owned aordable rental

housing units and more than 40,000 rent-stabilized units.7 e impacts to

privately owned aordable housing units jeopardized valuable sources of the

city’s aordable housing stock, since units requiring extensive repair in the

wake of the storm may no longer serve as aordable housing.8

e electricity and heat systems a lso suered devastating damage. In New

York City, home to the “world’s rst centralized electric generation and dis-

tribution system,”9 nearly two million people lost power during the storm,

and 84,000 natural gas customers experienced losses in service.10 For several

weeks, thousands of residents of New York City, one of the world’s most

sophisticated nancial centers, lived without natural gas to heat homes;

electricity to ush toilets and pump water through high-rise buildings; and

energy to keep perishables, including vital medicines and foods that are dif-

cult for low- to moderate-income families to replace, cold.11

Superstorm Sandy provided a bleak portrait of our possible climate future12

and highlighted the ways i n which the existing energy system renders low- to

NYC.pdf.

6. Id. at 5.

7. Id.

8. e Furman Center disaggregated data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Id. at 7. e data indicated that more than 150,000 New York City households, representing 4% of all

New York City households and one-half of the households in the area aected by the storm surge, had

registered with FEMA, and 55% of registered households were renters. Id. Of registered households,

the median household income for renters was $18,000, compared with $82,000 for homeowners.

Id. at 8. Both groups were disproportionately low-income: “Nearly one-third of owners (29.9%) and

two-thirds of renters (64.9%) have household incomes of less than $30,000 per year.” Id. e study

goes on to note that the “extremely low incomes of the renters” raises concerns regarding whether such

renters will be able to locate new aordable housing, given that only 22% of New York City rental

units would be aordable to households with an annual income of $30,000 or less. Id. Moreover, the

homeowners impacted by Sandy lived in areas with high foreclosure rates, making them particularly

vulnerable to the storm’s housing impacts. Id at 8-9.

9. C  N Y, supra note 1, at 108.

10. Id. at 15.

11. Id. (noting that some areas hit hard by Sandy, such as the Rockaways, were without heat and power

for weeks).

12.e 2017 hurricane season provided a window into a chaotic climate future. In August and Sep-

tember, a string of “catastrophic” hurricanes whipped through the Atlantic and Caribbean regions.

On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall 30 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, Texas,

as a Category 4 storm. Major Hurricane Harvey, Aug. 25-29, 2017, N’ W S., www.

weather.gov/crp/hurricane_harvey (last visited Sept. 25, 2017). Over a three-day period, the hur-

ricane dropped a record 51.88 inches of rain in America’s fourth largest city, Houston, paralyzing the

city and, according to the National Weather Service, causing “catastrophic, historical, devastating,

Chapter 4: Energy Justice Stakes in the Net Energy Metering Policy Debates 59

moderate-income people vulnerable to climate change impacts. e storm

laid bare how inequality can exacerbate the impacts of major weather events

in poor and low-income communities, because such communities are alrea dy

vulnerable due to a unique combination of economics and geography. Sandy

exposed these gross inequalities13 while also highlighting our inherent inter-

connectedness. Sandy’s most important impact, however, was to usher in a

moment of unprecedented transformation of the region’s energy system,14

making the Sa ndy narrative a part of a globa l energy phenomenon unfolding

at a rapid clip.

Around the world, an energy revolution that has the power to avoid many

of Sandy’s most devastating impacts is taking shape. e revolution, fueled

by increasingly aordable access to solar energy,15 has the potential to miti-

gate the impacts of climate change; render communities more resilient in

the face of climate change impacts; and remedy long-standing inequities,

by oering low- to moderate-income people substantial economic benets

and the ability to own and control their electricity. is revolution of the

energy system has the power to transform traditional ways of generating

electricity—in centralized fossil fuel-burning power plants that supply elec-

tricity to an electricity grid—and the potential to create pathways to more

decentralized and nimble approaches to generation and distribution. More

importantly, these changes have the profound potential to upend the power

dynamics embedded withi n the current energy system by creating wealth for

those who are most impacted by high electricity costs.

and life-threatening ooding over Southeast Texas.” Id. e storm caused billions of dollars worth of

damage. Umair Irfan, e Stunning Price Tags for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, Explained, V.,

Sept. 18, 2017, www.vox.com/explainers/2017/9/18/16314440/disasters-are-getting-more-expensive-

harvey-irma-insurance-climate. Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded

in the eastern part of the Atlantic Ocean, followed shortly on the heels of Hurricane Harvey. Gregor

Aisch et al., Hurricane Irma Is One of the Strongest Storms in History, N.Y. T, Sept. 9, 2017, www.

nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/09/us/hurricane-irma-records.html?mcubz=3. After destroying the

Caribbean island of Barbuda, the storm, measuring 425 miles wide, made landfall. Bonnie Berkowitz

et al., How Big Is Hurricane Irma?, W. P, Sept. 11, 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/graph-

ics/2017/national/how-big-is-hurricane-irma/?utm_term=.f57aec716013. Hurricanes Jose and Maria,

respectively Category 4 and Category 5 storms, also impacted the Caribbean and Atlantic regions.

13.Imara Jones, What Hurricane Sandy Should Teach Us About Climate Justice, C, Nov. 15, 2012,

www.colorlines.com/articles/what-hurricane-sandy-should-teach-us-about-climate-justice; David

Rhode, e Hideous Inequality Exposed by Hurricane Sandy, A, Oct. 31, 2012, www.theatlantic.

com/business/archive/2012/10/the-hideous-inequality-exposed-by-hurricane-sandy/264337/.

14. S  N.Y. P. S. C’, CASE 14-M-0101, O A R P

F  I P 2 (2015) (noting that “[c]limate change ... compels reform”

and the challenges to the electricity system provide the opportunity to improve the 100-year-old

electricity regulatory system).

15.Robert Fares, e Price of Solar Is Declining to Unprecedented Lows, S A.: P I

(Aug. 27, 2016), https://blogs.scienticamerican.com/plugged-in/the-price-of-solar-is-declining-

to-unprecedented-lows/.