Bia Assevero is the Alliance’s Social Media consultant.
I moved to New Orleans exactly – give or take 24 hours – a year ago. As I look back on the last twelve months, one of the first things that jumps out at me is how much knowledge I’ve gained about environmental and energy issues, not just in New Orleans, but across the state and indeed, across the country.
In large part, I have the Alliance to thank for that and I think it’s worth highlighting the education aspect of their mission. The regulatory work they do is critical but also complicated. The watchdogging work they do is crucial but not necessarily glamourous. All of that makes educating consumers and citizens all the more important. 
People need to understand what their options are; why certain policies are in their interest and others aren’t, what resources are available to them as ratepayers and how they can make changes that benefit them and the environment at the same time.
New Orleans, for a whole host of reasons, is in the unique position of being able to inspire and affect change in energy policy beyond city lines. That means that New Orleans residents are on the front lines of an issue that has national and global repercussions. It’s reassuring – to me at least – that those same residents have the Alliance for Affordable Energy on their side.
