Americans are facing a growing energy affordability crisis. Rising bills — driven by aging infrastructure, rapid data center growth, and fossil fuel volatility — are putting increasing strain on household budgets, and the pressure will only intensify as demand surges and gas system costs rise.
Addressing this challenge will require massive investment in the energy system. We face a generational choice: to keep spending on a model that concentrates wealth among large energy and technology companies, or build one that lowers costs, strengthens communities, and centers households. We’re big fans of the latter, and we have the data to back it up.
Six policies that can flip the energy affordability switch for 96 percent of eligible American households.
Working together, these policies could unlock an average of $26,000 in savingsover the lifetime of the new equipment installed as part of policy implementation.
1. Reducing soft costs
Soft cost reform standardizes permitting, inspection, and interconnection processes so that installing household energy technologies becomes faster, simpler, and more predictable. By lowering the total cost of upgrades, this reform boosts the performance of every other policy.
2. Data centers pay
The topic of data center growth and its impact on communities frequently tops the energy industry news cycle. As our CEO Ari Matusiak puts it, “Communities are increasingly wary of large-scale data center development that would drive up costs, consume land and water, and deliver few direct benefits.” Incentivizing data centers to pay their fair share by directing their investments toward household upgrades takes control of the energy ecosystem in a model that actually lowers bills for families.
3. Inclusive utility investment (IUI)
IUI enables utilities to pay for home improvements with low or no upfront cost or credit check to the household, recovering costs through a monthly bill charge that is tied to the property, not the individual. It’s a long name for a really smart idea. Read more on how IUI works.
4. Electrification-friendly rate reform
Outdated, static electric rates cause heat pump households to overpay relative to their actual system costs. Reforming how these rates are structured evens the playing field for electrified households. More on rate reform here.
5. Non-pipeline alternatives
Gas utilities spend billions annually on pipelines that lock in long-term rate increases. Redirecting that spending toward electrification and efficiency avoids unnecessary capital investment and protects households from rising gas system costs. Read our full breakdown of this policy.
6. Virtual power plants (VPPs)
The policies outlined above make home energy upgrades affordable for approximately 59 million additional households, all of which could participate in VPPs — turning homes into a scalable source of grid capacity in a matter of months, not years. Curious about how VPPs work? More details here.
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