Mind Over Markets

Just Power is about the human side of the energy transition. Not just the technology, not just the policy — but the people (like you and me) who are most affected by the decisions being made right now. My guest, Jolette Westbrook, is an advocate of what she calls the "overly impacted and rarely heard." In this episode, she makes it count.

Jolette spent eight years as a utility commissioner in Massachusetts — inside the room where these decisions get made. Now, as Director and Senior Attorney of Regulatory Solutions at the Environmental Defense Fund, she's working to make sure those same people have a real voice in them. Not just an open door. A seat at the table.

Leading Through Energy Affordability: An Open Door Isn't a Seat at the Table (S5:E10) Most people will never set foot in an energy regulatory proceeding. And for the ones who do show up — without a lawyer, without technical expertise, without ...

Rachel Carson knew that connection to the earth isn't just poetic - it's where our resilience comes from. Go outside today. Then come back and keep going. Happy Earth Day!

Several months ago, Energy Outreach Colorado came to me with an idea. They'd been watching the work I was doing on my Just Power podcast — specifically an episode from Season 2 called 5 Questions We Must Ask Communities Now — and they asked: could they take those questions directly to the people they serve? Real households. Real energy bills. Real consequences.

I answered a resounding YES.And then I immediately pushed it further (that's how I'm wired). "Why don't we videotape their responses — and then do a podcast where we listen to them together?"Jennifer Gremmert, EOC's CEO, didn't hesitate. Yes. Let's do it.

That conversation is what you're about to hear.We honed my original five questions to four. EOC went out into their communities — rural and urban, Front Range and San Luis Valley — and sat with real people who are right now navigating rising energy bills. They asked. They listened. They videotaped.

And in this episode, Jennifer comes back on Just Power and we listen together — in real time — and reflect on what these voices are telling us about this moment in the energy transition.What you'll hear stopped me. A single dad in fight-or-flight mode over his bills, unable to afford daycare for his four-year-old daughter with ASD. A family in the San Luis Valley staring down a $900 bill — for just two months. People making impossible choices between internet and electricity, food and prescriptions, rent and keeping the lights on.

This is what energy unaffordability actually feels like. Not the rate filings. Not the policy language. The lived experience.In an industry of poles, wires, and rate filings — where people are called "ratepayers" — our mission at Just Power is to bring forth the human side of the energy transition.

This episode is that.

Ready to listen? Check it out here.

Leading Through Energy Affordability Series | The Human Reality Behind Our Energy Crisis (S5:E2) What does energy unaffordability actually feel like? Not the policy language, not the rate filings — but the lived experience of a family in Colorado's San L...