The 2023 People Power for Public Power Summit: The State of the Movement

At this pivotal moment—of climate crisis, utility failures, and climbing prices—people from all walks of life in the United States are once more looking toward public power and working hard to ensure more Americans can benefit from it. 

The 2023 People Power for Public Power Summit, the first event of its kind, brought more than 60 organizers to Portland, Maine last October to strategize, collaborate, and learn from one another. Representing 45 different communities and organized groups from across the US, the attendees were drawn to the fight for public power through their lived experiences and brought their unique perspectives to bear on the proceedings.

Whether it was outrage at unaffordable bills, anger about utility failures and shutoffs, frustration over for-profit corporations’ distorting of democracy, or eagerness to effect a just transition to renewable energy that had drawn each organizer to the movement, the culprit remained the same: an electricity system run for profits rather than people’s health and well-being. Despite the varying facts on the ground in each organizer’s community, the attendees shared a common goal: the expansion of democratic control over energy service by winning state and local campaigns for public power.

Leveraging lessons from highly publicized state struggles—in New York, to pass the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA), and in Maine, to approve a ballot initiative for public power—the summit constituted the initial step toward developing a sustainable network of organizers to share knowledge, skills, and resources. The report summarizes the activities from the four-day summit, provide insights into the movement’s status at the time of writing, and offers strategies and lessons to build future campaigns.