A Look Back at the Year

For 35+ years, the Alliance for Affordable Energy has been advocating for equitable, affordable, and environmentally responsible energy for the people of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. While we are often opposed by powerful corporations and entrenched interests, our supporters and community partnerships have helped The Alliance succeed and advance energy policy that benefits Louisianans. 

Let's take a minute to look back all we’ve achieved this year:

• Successfully worked with New Orleans City Councilmembers to extend the shutoff moratorium and ensure no residents were left unprotected from the extreme heat this summer. 

• ​Worked as part of Louisiana for a Green New Deal (LA4GND)  to provide tens of thousands of dollars of utility bill assistance to customers outside of New Orleans. 
• Hosted a Teach-In, Turn Off the Gaslight: The Natural Truth About Gas, in which we talked about what natural gas is (methane!), where it comes from, how the price of it affects your utility bills, who sets the price of methane, what are the alternatives, and what you can do.
• Educated the public on the work of the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) ahead of 2022 elections. Hosted 5 forums and partnered with allies to sponsor a televised debate between District 3 Runoff candidates so that voters could hear directly from the candidates asking for their vote to regulate utilities across Louisiana. 
• Distributed over $500,000 to grassroots organizations fighting the climate crisis and working to improve conditions and opportunities for frontline communities.
• Hosted a webinar to discuss some of the barriers to developing renewable energy in Louisiana - watch the recording. 
• We know the importance of transmission planning and expansion for Louisiana ratepayers. And that’s why we were excited to expand our team and bring on Yvonne as our Clean Energy Grid Organizer. She will direct her energy towards engaging in the MISO stakeholder process as well as bringing transmission planning education to Louisiana ratepayers and decision makers.
• MISO BoD approved historic $10.3 Billion Long Range Transmission Planning Tranche 1 Projects in July, 2022. The 18 transmission projects will provide MISO ratepayers between $37 and $69 billion in benefits. Louisiana will receive similar transmission planning in the LRTP Tranche 3.
• We worked with Gulf South for a Green New Deal (GS4GND) to host the Gulf Gathering in Baton Rouge, which brought together over 1,000 people from TX, LA, MS, AL, FL, Puerto Rico to connect with one another, learn from leaders on the front lines and celebrate the culture of our region. This was a free event open to the public with food, music, education, training, networking, skill building and community building. 
• Through our community radio show, the People’s Power Hour, we provided a platform where people on the ground in the Gulf South could share their work and educate people on how to get involved. 
• We hosted a fundraiser at Tipitina’s where the legendary trombonist Fred Wesley of the J.B.’s headlined a New Orleans All-Star team. There was a huge turnout and we were thrilled to be able to use the funds we raised to help us launch our Wimpelberg Intern Fellowship, named in honor of our late founder, Karen Wimpelberg. 

​Those are just some of our successes, together we accomplished so much this year — from ensuring utilities invest in renewable energy and storm hardening to tackling economic struggles and reducing housing costs with efficiency upgrades. We appreciate all your support and we look forward to working together in 2023!