New or smaller companies will not be able to compete against giant utilities receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer and consumer subsidies. The utility bailout also endangers the environment. Utilities receiving a bailout will fight against energy efficiency and renewable energy, which directly compete with the existing fleet of polluting fossil fuel and nuclear power plants. A grassroots backlash against the bailout is already starting to build in California, Massachusetts and other states. In Massachusetts, Public Citizen and allied organizations are working with sympathetic lawmakers to heed the concerns of consumers to drastically limit the utility bailout.
Similar efforts are underway in Pennsylvania, Texas, and other states.