Uncategorized

COMMUNITY BENEFIT Affordability, Decarbonization KEYWORDS Data centers, Utility rates REGION Federal, Regional, State, Local AFFORDABILITY STRATEGY Utility Reform: Cost Containment OVERSIGHT State Agencies, Regional Transmission Operators, Public Utility Commissions, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission POLICY MECHANISM Legislation, Regulation Why This Matters The skyrocketing energy demands of data centers and other energy-intensive new loads, such as cryptocurrency […]

COMMUNITY BENEFIT Affordability, Transparency KEYWORDS Utility Bills, Utility Rates REGION Regional, State AFFORDABILITY STRATEGY Utility Reform: Accountability OVERSIGHT Energy Agency, Environment Agency, Regional Grid Operator, Utility Commission POLICY MECHANISM Legislation, Regulation, Executive Why This Matters One of the largest barriers to effectively addressing energy affordability challenges is a lack of publicly-accessible data about 1) the

COMMUNITY BENEFIT Affordability KEYWORDS Assistance, Utility bills REGION Federal, State, Local AFFORDABILITY STRATEGY Household Protections OVERSIGHT State social service agencies, energy offices, utility commissions POLICY MECHANISM Legislation, Regulation Why This Matters In 2020, more than one-quarter of all households and 41% of renters in the U.S. experienced energy insecurity. About one in 10 households received

COMMUNITY BENEFIT Affordability KEYWORDS Assistance, Utility Bills REGION State, Utility AFFORDABILITY STRATEGY Household Protections OVERSIGHT Utility Commission, Environmental Agency POLICY MECHANISM Legislation, Regulation, Executive Why This Matters A quarter of U.S. households are energy-burdened1—paying more than six percent of income towards utility bills—and could benefit from forms of bill assistance, but the amount of assistance

COMMUNITY BENEFIT Affordability, Decarbonization KEYWORDS Efficiency, Tax policy, Distributed energy, Clean energy REGION State AFFORDABILITY STRATEGY Funding and Financing, Residential Decarbonization OVERSIGHT State Tax Departments POLICY MECHANISM Legislation Why This Matters Residential energy tax credits are a key mechanism for household access to clean energy systems, such as rooftop solar and battery storage, energy efficiency

COMMUNITY BENEFIT Affordability, Decarbonization, Environment, Public health, Resilience KEYWORDS Air quality, Decarbonization, Fossil Fuels, Funding, Remediation, Resilie REGION State, Local AFFORDABILITY STRATEGY Funding/Financing OVERSIGHT State Revenue and/or Environmental Agencies POLICY MECHANISM Legislation, Litigation Why This Matters States and local governments face growing costs to infrastructure, public health, and basic services resulting from climate change.1 Resources

COMMUNITY BENEFIT Affordability, decarbonization, Public health, safety KEYWORDS Decarbonization, Methane gas REGION State, Local AFFORDABILITY STRATEGY Utility reform: energy transition; Utility reform: cost containment OVERSIGHT Utility Commissions, Environmental Agencies POLICY MECHANISM Legislation, Regulation Why This Matters Utilities receive guaranteed rates of return on their infrastructure investments—which ratepayers pay back for decades—leading to perverse incentives to

COMMUNITY BENEFIT Affordability, Housing, Public health, Resilience, Safety, Workforce KEYWORDS Decarbonization, Efficiency, Electrification, Housing REGION Federal, State, Local AFFORDABILITY STRATEGY Residential Decarbonization OVERSIGHT Energy Offices, U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Federal Housing Finance Agency POLICY MECHANISM Legislation, Regulation Why This Matters Buildings are responsible for 40% of energy

COMMUNITY BENEFIT Affordability, Decarbonization KEYWORDS Decarbonization, Funding, Resilience REGION Regional, State AFFORDABILITY STRATEGY Funding/Financing OVERSIGHT Various  POLICY MECHANISM Legislation, Regulation Why This Matters To achieve economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions reductions, we need broadly applied, economically effective emissions reduction policies. But we also need to generate significant revenue for investments in the clean energy future.1 Cap-and-invest

COMMUNITY BENEFIT Affordability, Resilience, Decarbonization, Safety, Workforce, Housing KEYWORDS Disaster preparedness, Efficiency, Housing REGION Federal, State, Local AFFORDABILITY STRATEGY Residential Decarbonization OVERSIGHT State Housing Agencies, U.S. Departments of Energy and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) POLICY MECHANISM Legislation Why This Matters Over five million low-income homeowners live with energy cost burdens and homes in need