AARP 2014 Annual Report Download - page 11

2014 AARP ANNUAL REPORT 9
SAVING CONSUMERS BILLIONS ON UTILITIES
Hank Povinelli is fed-up with rising electric rates. Out of work,
living in a house worth less than he paid for it and worried about
a shrinking retirement nest egg, the 67-year-old manages on a
fixed income.
Instead of complaining, however, Povinelli
became a volunteer AARP utility watchdog.
In May, he donned a red T-shirt and joined
dozens of other AARP members at a Califor-
nia Public Utilities Commission hearing. They
expressed opposition to a three-year, $878
million rate increase sought by a major utility.
Meanwhile, AARP members in 27 other
states let regulators know how proposed rate
increases would affect their budgets. The
biggest victory was in New Jersey: AARP’s
advocacy helped persuade regulators there to
reduce by $1.6 billion the price tag for reli-
ability improvements proposed by an electric
and natural gas utility.
Photo by Van Ditthavong
SOCIAL IMPACT: UTILITY SAVINGS
>Nearly 49 million households saved $2.8 billion on utilities in 2014, thanks in part
to AARP’s pro-consumer utilities campaign.
>Preservation of reliable “landline” telephone service is a goal in states where utili-
ties seek to replace traditional copper wires with less reliable cellular service.
>Since the 1980s, AARP has worked to ensure that regulated natural gas and elec-
tric utilities receive a fair, reasonable rate of return—but not a dime more.
Hank Povinelli