Power Corrupts: Cleaning Up America's Biggest Industry
An investigation into the corruption of the electric industry and its role in polluting our planet.

Electric utilities have faced a few scandals over the past century or so, but corruption is growing as the power industry's conventional business model is falling apart. Modern technologies challenge their monopoly mindsets and outmoded generators. Threatened utilities, in turn, gun for taxpayer- and ratepayer-funded subsidies, which they increasingly seek through fraud-filled, underhanded schemes. Corruption, however, can be challenged.

In Power Corrupts: Cleaning Up America's Biggest Industry, Richard Munson reports on blocked bailouts and options for increased transparency and ethics by exploring well-known scandals that have dominated headlines about the energy sector. Munson highlights how power corruption proliferates, enabling outmoded generators to waste money, spew unnecessary pollution, and block clean-energy innovations.Legal cases profiled include Chuck Jones of FirstEnergy, Anne Pramaggiore of Commonwealth Energy, and more.

How did we get here? While reviewing the history of utility regulation, Munson argues misconduct is on the rise because modern technologies threaten power monopolies' reliance on large nuclear and coal units. As solar and wind costs fall, power monopolies use bribes to survive. Customers and citizens are paying not only for the electricity they use but also the taxes that pay to regulate, subsidize, and investigate utility companies. They should demand more power. Power Corrupts calls for competition and transparency, serving as an essential primer for readers interested in the dark history of the electric industry.

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Power Corrupts: Cleaning Up America's Biggest Industry
An investigation into the corruption of the electric industry and its role in polluting our planet.

Electric utilities have faced a few scandals over the past century or so, but corruption is growing as the power industry's conventional business model is falling apart. Modern technologies challenge their monopoly mindsets and outmoded generators. Threatened utilities, in turn, gun for taxpayer- and ratepayer-funded subsidies, which they increasingly seek through fraud-filled, underhanded schemes. Corruption, however, can be challenged.

In Power Corrupts: Cleaning Up America's Biggest Industry, Richard Munson reports on blocked bailouts and options for increased transparency and ethics by exploring well-known scandals that have dominated headlines about the energy sector. Munson highlights how power corruption proliferates, enabling outmoded generators to waste money, spew unnecessary pollution, and block clean-energy innovations.Legal cases profiled include Chuck Jones of FirstEnergy, Anne Pramaggiore of Commonwealth Energy, and more.

How did we get here? While reviewing the history of utility regulation, Munson argues misconduct is on the rise because modern technologies threaten power monopolies' reliance on large nuclear and coal units. As solar and wind costs fall, power monopolies use bribes to survive. Customers and citizens are paying not only for the electricity they use but also the taxes that pay to regulate, subsidize, and investigate utility companies. They should demand more power. Power Corrupts calls for competition and transparency, serving as an essential primer for readers interested in the dark history of the electric industry.

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Power Corrupts: Cleaning Up America's Biggest Industry

Power Corrupts: Cleaning Up America's Biggest Industry

by Richard Munson
Power Corrupts: Cleaning Up America's Biggest Industry

Power Corrupts: Cleaning Up America's Biggest Industry

by Richard Munson

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Overview

An investigation into the corruption of the electric industry and its role in polluting our planet.

Electric utilities have faced a few scandals over the past century or so, but corruption is growing as the power industry's conventional business model is falling apart. Modern technologies challenge their monopoly mindsets and outmoded generators. Threatened utilities, in turn, gun for taxpayer- and ratepayer-funded subsidies, which they increasingly seek through fraud-filled, underhanded schemes. Corruption, however, can be challenged.

In Power Corrupts: Cleaning Up America's Biggest Industry, Richard Munson reports on blocked bailouts and options for increased transparency and ethics by exploring well-known scandals that have dominated headlines about the energy sector. Munson highlights how power corruption proliferates, enabling outmoded generators to waste money, spew unnecessary pollution, and block clean-energy innovations.Legal cases profiled include Chuck Jones of FirstEnergy, Anne Pramaggiore of Commonwealth Energy, and more.

How did we get here? While reviewing the history of utility regulation, Munson argues misconduct is on the rise because modern technologies threaten power monopolies' reliance on large nuclear and coal units. As solar and wind costs fall, power monopolies use bribes to survive. Customers and citizens are paying not only for the electricity they use but also the taxes that pay to regulate, subsidize, and investigate utility companies. They should demand more power. Power Corrupts calls for competition and transparency, serving as an essential primer for readers interested in the dark history of the electric industry.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781538199398
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 06/26/2025
Pages: 184
Product dimensions: 6.30(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Richard Munson is Director of the Northeast-Midwest Institute, a non-partisan policy research center in Washington, D.C. Having founded the National Solar Lobby and Center for Renewable Resources in the 1970s, he has spent the last 25 years spearheading innovative public policy approaches to help meet America's energy needs. He frequently testifies before Congress, collaborates with regional energy and power providers, briefs local and state governments on their energy options, and provides consumer information on energy choices. His articles on the business and politics of the electricity industry have appeared in publications ranging from The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times to the journals of the National Academy of Sciences, environmental organizations and utility associations. He is the author of The Power Makers, Cousteau: The Captain and His World, and The Cardinals of Capitol Hill.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
I – The Stakes
II – Seeking Subsidies
III – Buying a Bailout
IV – Consequences and Entanglements
V – Securing Favors
VI – Swaying Elections
VII – Cut Corruption
Bibliography
Notes
Index
About the Author

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