“If we leave it alone who’s going to make sure the program gets out to our communities if not us?”

“Why are we like this? I mean, this isn’t even our fight. Why can’t we ever just leave things alone?”

“If we leave it alone who’s going to make sure the program gets out to our communities if not us?”

The Rural Hard to Reach Working Group (RHTR), is many things—one of which is horribly named—but what makes it special is that the group thrives on the idea that we are really are better off together. Sure, we could all write public comments on our own, but why when as a group we have a small army of drafters and copy editors and finessers? We could run our programs in our own little fiefdoms and be just fine, but why when we can take the best pieces and parts of each other and do more for rural California, not just our own regions? Why fight for just the Valley when we can improve the whole?

The RHTR is composed of public agencies and non-profits operating energy efficiency programs within a geographical area or region that serves customers, a majority of which are located in rural, hard to reach communities.  The objectives of the RHTR are: (i) to increase the quality of delivered energy-related services and products to rural California communities; (ii) to assess rural California’s ongoing and cross-cutting barriers to the market adoption of energy-related services and products; (iii) to positively influence local, regional and state policy and regulatory discussion and decisions to address barriers and drivers in rural California; and (iv) to cooperate and collaborate with other agencies, associations, and groups, both public and private, having similar or related purposes.   

The RHTR members implement programs throughout 30 counties of California and represent a significant portion of the state’s geography.  Our members include the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, County of Kern, County of San Luis Obispo, County of Ventura, High Sierra Energy Foundation, Redwood Coast Energy Authority, San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization, and Sierra Business Council.  

In a recent comment writing session (from which the above conversation was pulled) I noticed an error written, “we the RHTR…” and my mind went wandering at the idea of ‘we the rural, we the hard to reach’, which ultimately lead to visions of a rural energy revolution, of course, more along the dramatic lines of Les Misérables than anything.

We the rural, we the hard to reach have been overlooked and underserved for the entirety of energy programs. We the rural, we the hard to reach understand the intricacies of our communities because we actually live in them—we don’t just pass through. We the rural, we the hard to reach understand that equity in energy begins with access and is more than a passing interest or popular hashtag. We the rural, we the hard to reach will be the ones to bring access to our own communities because we understand the importance of doing for ourselves, for our own. Most importantly, because of our membership in the RHTR the Valley won’t be alone, and to be honest, there’s no one else we’d rather revolt with!

Viva les Rural Energy!