This episode is different. No guests. No data. Just Carolyn Parrs revealing what she has been sitting with since finishing eleven conversations about energy affordability this season — and what she believes every leader in this space needs to hear right now.

This is not a political statement. It is a leadership reckoning. Because the truth this season made impossible to ignore is this: the most credible responses to the energy affordability crisis are not coming from Washington. They never were. They are coming from a lender in Florida who built what the banks refused to build. A utility VP who made love a business strategy. A regulator who got creative with a financial tool and protected ratepayers in a way no one had tried before. A community advocate who put real people front and center as witnesses, not statistics.

Different sectors. Different seats. Different cities. Same instinct: I'm not waiting.

If you lead in this space — or want to — this episode is calling you forward.

Be on the waiting list for early access to our "Leading Through Energy Affordability" training.

About our host, Carolyn Parrs: Carolyn has spent 25 years at the intersection of clean energy, strategic communications, and human change. She is the creator and host of Just Power, and a certified Co-Active coach working with leaders navigating meaningful transitions. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/

Just Power Podcast: Just Power is about the human side of the energy transition — the leaders, the tradeoffs, and the real-world impacts that don't make it into the headlines. Featuring voices from utilities, policy, technology, and frontline communities.

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The pendulum always swings towards justice. That's what Dr. Tony Reames told host, Carolyn Parrs in the last season of the Just Power podcast. It's the thread that has quietly connected every conversation in the Leading Through Energy Affordability series since.

Dr. Tony Reames built the first-ever Office of Energy Justice Policy and Analysis at the U.S. Department of Energy and now directs the Detroit Sustainability Clinic, where he works alongside communities navigating the very pressures this series has been mapping all season. In this replay from Season 4, he speaks candidly about what a credible response to energy affordability actually requires — from utility CEOs, from state regulators, from the rest of us — and why the answers have always been closest to the people carrying the burden.

Highlights

The federal retreat has happened before, and the playbook for what comes next is already being written at the state and local level.

Your utility commissioner may be the most powerful person you've never thought to pay attention to.

Data centers are the new boom towns, and communities are getting the burden without the benefits.

Detroit is already writing the blueprint for what utilities and communities can build together.

The answers are closest to the people carrying the heaviest energy burden — if we stop and listen.

About our guest, Dr. Tony Reames: Tony is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of energy and environmental justice, as well as a senior government policy advisor. He is the Tishman Professor of Environmental Justice position and an associate professor at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonygreames/

About our host, Carolyn Parrs: Carolyn has spent 25 years at the intersection of clean energy, strategic communications, and human change. She is the creator and host of Just Power, and a certified Co-Active coach working with leaders navigating meaningful transitions. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/

Just Power Podcast: Just Power is about the human side of the energy transition — the leaders, the tradeoffs, and the real-world impacts that don't make it into the headlines. Featuring voices from utilities, policy, technology, and frontline communities.

🔔 Never Miss an Episode of This Series! Subscribe Now.
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast?sub_confirmation=1

💖 Spread the Love
Like, comment, and share this episode with a friend, policymaker, or energy provider who needs to hear this.

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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 money to intervene — showing up is often where their influence ends. Jolette Westbrook spent eight years as a utility commissioner in Massachusetts watching that dynamic play out, and she's spent the years since working to dismantle it. As a Director and Senior Attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund, she's one of the people most focused on turning community participation from a checkbox into something that actually changes outcomes.

Highlights

• An open door is not the same as a seat at the table — and the difference lives in a part of the process most people never hear about.
• The communities most affected are also the least resourced to fight back — so what does it actually take to change that?
• Massachusetts tried something — and two years later, there are real answers about what stuck and what didn't.
• The incentive structure for utilities can be rewired — and some states are already doing it.
• The word "equity" is under pressure — but the problem it describes isn't going anywhere.
• Being heard isn't the same as being listened to — Jolette draws a distinction that reframes what accountability actually means.

About our guest, Jolette Westbrook: Jolette is Director & Senior Attorney, Regulatory Solutions at Environmental Defense Fund, where she works with regulators, utilities, consumer advocates and communities to advance affordable, equitable and consumer-centered energy policies. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/environmental-defense/

• Community Voices in Energy: Website with tools and training to help communities shape affordable, equitable energy decisions
• EDF/Environmental Law Institute CLE Webinar #1: Energy affordability and the power of community voices
• EDF/Environmental Law Institute CLE Webinar #2: Building an energy future that leaves no one behind
• EDF Statement from Jolette: Massachusetts takes major step to reduce energy burdens for low-income residents
• EDF Co-Authored Report: Recommendations to make Massachusetts energy decision-making more equitable and community-driven
• EDF Intervenor Compensation Blog Post: Supporting public participation in utility decisions

About our host, Carolyn Parrs: Carolyn has spent 25 years at the intersection of clean energy, strategic communications, and human change. She is the creator and host of Just Power, and a certified Co-Active coach working with leaders navigating meaningful transitions. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynparrs/

Just Power Podcast: Just Power is about the human side of the energy transition — the leaders, the tradeoffs, and the real-world impacts that don't make it into the headlines. Featuring voices from utilities, policy, technology, and frontline communities.

🔔 Never Miss an Episode of This Series! Subscribe Now.
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheJustPowerPodcast?sub_confirmation=1

💖 Spread the Love
Like, comment, and share this episode with a friend, policymaker, or energy provider who needs to hear this.

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New Mexico State University Microlearning

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