Cutting Energy Costs
Across the country, local solar is giving communities a way to take control of rising energy bills - turning monthly costs into long-term savings. But too often, outdated utility models stand in the way, prioritizing expensive infrastructure over the lowest-cost solutions. We’re working to change that by holding utilities accountable and scaling solar to deliver real affordability.
What's Driving the Energy Affordability Crisis
Investor-owned utilities earn profits based on how much infrastructure they build - like power plants, transmission lines, and other large-scale projects. The more they spend, the more they make. And the more you pay to fund it. As a result, utility planning often overlooks or undervalues clean, community power, like rooftop solar + storage, that could reduce costs.
The Solution:
Local solar can change that equation - but only when utilities plan for it and recognize its full value. Solar on homes, businesses, and in communities, generates power closer to where it’s used, reducing the need for expensive infrastructure and lowering system-wide costs. And when solar is paired with storage and connected across neighborhoods it becomes even more powerful - delivering reliable, flexible, low-cost energy. Solar isn’t just clean energy, it’s one of the fastest, most effective ways to make energy more affordable.
Policy Priorities
To unlock the full cost-saving potential of solar, we need policies that remove barriers, align incentives, and prioritize local solutions. Here's some of what we're working on:
Community-Based Power Networks
These local networks, sometimes referred to as virtual power plants, are made up of solar, batteries, thermostats and other smart technologies already present throughout communities, working together to deliver power when it’s needed most. Solar is already on rooftops across the country. Connecting these systems into coordinated networks can reduce peak demand, avoid costly infrastructure, and lower bills—but outdated rules are holding this back.
Local Solar in Resource Planning
Affordability starts in the planning room. Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) decide which power plants get built and whether clean energy resources are fully valued alongside them, which costs get locked in for decades, and ultimately what customers pay. That makes IRPs the first accountability checkpoint. Utilities should be required to fully account for local solar and storage when planning future energy investments. When solar isn’t properly valued in planning, utilities overbuild expensive infrastructure—locking in higher costs for decades.
Local Solar Compensation & Access
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Data Center Accountability
As demand surges from energy-intensive industries like data centers, communities should not be left paying the price through higher utility bills and costly grid upgrades. Data center accountability policies are one of the clearest solutions to the affordability crisis, requiring large new energy users to help fund the clean energy needed to serve their demand. By requiring data centers to bring their own clean energy — especially fast, scalable resources like solar paired with storage — states can ensure that rising demand is matched with new supply rather than shifting costs onto families and small businesses.
EMBED AFFORDABILITY NATIONAL PETITION
Vote Solar in Action
Minnesota Regulators Put Community Power First, Taking a Significant Step Toward a Reliable, More Affordable Energy System
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) accepted Xcel Energy’s Integrated Distribution Plan (IDP) during its deliberative meeting on July 30, contingent on the Company making certain compli➤
News MinnesotaNew Jersey Board of Public Utilities’ First Phase of Commissioned Study on Utility Reforms Identifies Key Solutions but Falls Short of Bold Action
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities released the first phase of a commissioned study on potential pathways to modernize the state’s utility business model. Conducted by Energy and Environmental➤
News New JerseyVote Solar Congratulates Annel Hernandez on Appointment as New York City’s Inaugural Public Utility Advocate
New York City’s Mayor Mamdani appointed Annel Hernandez as the first-ever Public Utility Advocate. Hernandez, an energy expert, will advocate for clean, affordable energy for New Yorkers and encoura➤
News New YorkClean Energy Bill Passes Massachusetts Senate, Making Strong Progress Toward an Affordable, Clean Energy Future
The Massachusetts Senate passed its energy affordability bill, S.3143, late last night, which seeks to lower costs and strengthen the electric grid by steering the Commonwealth away from unnecessary u➤
News Massachusetts