On February 19, 2025, the California Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee held a hearing on how to provide clean, affordable electricity. Electricity rates in California are nearly double the national average and have skyrocketed in recent years, outpacing inflation even while investor-owned utilities rake in record profits.
The following expert testimony was provided to the committee by The Climate Center’s Legislative Manager Allison Hilliard:
Hello, Chair Becker and Committee Members. My name is Allison Hilliard, and I am the Legislative Manager for The Climate Center.
There is an opportunity to lower electricity costs by utilizing distributed energy assets that millions of Californians already have in their homes and driveways, like smart thermostats, home batteries, and electric vehicles. Multiple studies and reports from the Brattle Group, the U.S. Department of Energy, and The Climate Center have highlighted this opportunity. Together, these resources can shift, store, and deliver energy during times of peak demand, reducing stress on the grid.
Proper integration of these distributed energy resources can help reduce the need for additional infrastructure, such as poles and wires, leading to cost savings for all ratepayers. Establishing functional markets for distributed energy resources could also generate new revenue for asset owners, offering an alternative to the current approach of relying on polluting power plants, which are often located in low-income communities.
As this committee considers affordability legislation this year, we strongly encourage prioritizing the vast, currently untapped opportunity to utilize customer-owned distributed clean energy assets such as bidirectional electric vehicles to build a more affordable and reliable grid. All people, regardless of income level, will benefit from distributed energy resources.
