About
Distributed Assets 101
Energy for All
Membership
Contact
Contact

Unlocking consumer power.

Find out how to take charge of your power with lower bills, fewer outages, and real options for your home or small business.

See what’s possible with distributed assets.

American families, ratepayers, and businesses shouldn’t have to choose between comfort or financial stability. Common Charge is uniting around a system where everyone benefits from consumer-driven distributed assets. That’s power back in your hands.

Lower bills with energy that works smarter.

Distributed assets help you use less grid power when prices spike, and more grid power when it’s cheap. That means real, noticeable savings on your monthly bill with clean, local, energy.

Experience more reliability, fewer outages.

When extreme weather disrupts or strains the grid, distributed assets step up to keep lights on in homes and across neighborhoods. Your power is more resilient, exactly when you need it most.

Choose real energy independence.

You decide when and how your energy is used. Energy autonomy means freedom, and freedom means options. Your family isn’t stuck with rising prices or outdated energy systems. 
Learn more

Distributed assets in 10 seconds.

A quick look at the tools that put more savings, more say, and more reliability into your every day.
a group of people sitting around a table with food and drinks

Residential solar.

Use less grid power and pay less each month. Rooftop solar and storage bring real ownership—and even bigger savings—to home energy.
a group of people sitting on a couch

Smart thermostats.

Automate energy use for savings you barely have to think about. Thermostats just got smarter about when you need power, and when you don’t.
a row of houses with trees in front of them

Microgrids.

Share and store local power. Community microgrids connect neighbors on networks that lower costs, boost reliability, and keep essential power flowing during outages.
a family walking a dog

Virtual power plants.

Get paid while supporting the grid and reducing costs for all ratepayers. Distributed assets, when combined, can efficiently store and discharge power when and where it's needed.
Residential solar.
Smart thermostats.
Microgrids.
VPPs.

Everything you want to know about energy solutions.

Dig into the details

Impact in every story.

Consumers’ Savings with Demand Response

Consumers’ Savings with Demand Response

Renew Home
VPP Firm

VPP firm Renew Home (formerly OhmConnect) enrolled 200,000 California households in its program, which uses automated device controls and text alerts to encourage energy savings during peak hours. In return, residents earned gift cards and cash payments, creating a new stream of passive income.

‍
The win-win power of VPP grid programs is real. During a 2021 heat wave, enrolled customers received a collective $2.7 million in payments, which Renew Home earned from California’s wholesale power market by offsetting higher-cost electricity that would have otherwise been billed to consumers. The California power grid was able to avoid higher prices – and rolling blackouts – during a week of record-breaking temperatures in part because of Renew Home’s VPP program. 

Quick answers.

What is Common Charge? 

We are a coalition of consumers, nonprofits, and businesses answering the energy affordability and reliability crises by amplifying the power of distributed assets on the nation’s grid.

We’re paving the path for a more modern, resilient, consumer-driven American energy system at a moment when it’s most needed.

How is Common Charge different from other groups?

Common Charge unites a diverse group of voices across the energy ecosystem to shine a light on the role all distributed energy assets play.

We’re about maximizing the power of distributed assets already plugged into the grid. These energy assets are here, they’re proven, and they’re an essential component of the energy mix.

Every consumer, whether they own a distributed asset or not, benefits from these solutions.

What are distributed assets?

When we talk about distributed assets, we’re talking about devices already plugged into the grid, like batteries, vehicles, smart thermostats, and solar. We’re also talking about the technologies that enable them, like demand response, virtual power plants, grid management systems, and more.

The news we’d highlight if we ran your inbox.

Press Release
November 16, 2025

The Problem with Distributed Energy: How a New Coalition Hopes to Solve it

Press Release
November 12, 2025

Common Charge Welcomes Mary Rafferty as Executive Director, Strengthening Coalition Leadership and Membership Across the Energy Industry

News
September 10, 2025

Common Charge Launches to Unlock the Power of Distributed Assets for Consumers and the Grid