Distributed assets 101.

Everything you ever wanted to know about distributed assets, all in one place. Your guide to what they are, what they do, and why they matter.

Energy solutions are already here.

Distributed assets are ready to be plugged into your home, your business, and your community. These devices are affordable and available right now. And when we put them to work, bills drop, outages shrink, and people finally get something the old power system could never deliver: real freedom.

Batteries.

A home battery is your energy backup plan—charging excess electricity from the grid when rates are lower, and powering your home when it’s more expensive, so you can save money and keep the lights on. When customers adopt multiple solutions (like batteries + solar), the benefits can be exponential.

Residential solar.

With rooftop solar, your home or business generates its own clean power, right where it’s used, without costly transmission lines bringing power from far away places. Buy less from the grid, save more each month, and gain real control over your own personal mini power plant.

EV charging.

An electric vehicle (EV) isn’t just a ride—it’s a mobile battery on wheels when connected with the grid. Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and vehicle-to-home (V2H) charging technologies work to store electricity and send it back when it’s needed most. More savings, more balance, and a smarter grid, automatically.

Smart thermostats.

These simple devices give consumers more control over your energy usage, by learning your routine and helping you use energy more efficiently. They can heat or cool your home when electricity is cheapest, saving you money without lifting a finger.

Community solar.

No roof? No problem. Community solar lets anyone subscribe to local solar power and see real savings—making clean, affordable energy available for every renter, homeowner, and small business.

Technologies help them work smarter.

Smarter energy systems help distributed assets talk to each other, translating complex grid dynamics into simple, smart decisions. They help the grid respond to demand in real time, deliver power more reliably and efficiently, and give communities control of their energy future. These are the tools behind the scenes, decoded.

Demand response.

Demand response is an optional program you can choose to join. It doesn’t change how you use electricity day to day; it just asks you to use it a little less for a little while when the grid is under stress. It’s easy to participate if you have an appliance, such as a smart thermostat. And when people voluntarily reduce electricity consumption during those peak moments—in response to a quick notice from utilities—ratepayers and businesses get paid.

Virtual power plants.

Think of a virtual power plant (VPP) as a giant neighborhood block party. Where home batteries, solar panels, and smart thermostats are aggregated to one connected network and link with thousands of others to feed power back to the grid during times of peak use or energy emergencies. Participants get paid for helping balance the grid, the grid gets relief, and we all see lower energy costs.

Energy management systems.

Energy’s version of smart traffic control. An energy management system (EMS) decides when to use power and when to store it, dynamically directing the flow to lower both costs and emissions while stabilizing the grid. It’s a mix of software and hardware that manages how devices work together. By doing this, an EMS can make sure electricity is produced and used efficiently.

Microgrids.

Microgrids lower costs and boost reliability—giving people a flexible system right where they need it. They’re interconnected networks that produce, share, and store electricity in a community—often using rooftop solar, small wind turbines, batteries, and an energy management system that ties it all together. Neighborhoods and campuses can keep running even if the main grid goes down, and energy is kept close to home.

Your questions answered.

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.

Who are the members?

We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a member base split half and half between nonprofits and energy businesses that has more than doubled since our September 2025 launch.

What are DERS or 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, management systems, and more.

Why distributed assets?

Distributed assets are massively underutilized and misunderstood, which means we haven’t tapped into their full potential. We’re in a moment where adding every available electron to the grid is necessary.

Do energy solutions really have the power to fix the giant electric system?

Distributed assets are a crucial component of fixing this issue. If we’re going to tackle this generational shift in growing demand on the grid, we need every resource available. Together and when leveraged properly, these distributed assets can offset power plants, substation expansion, transmission lines, and all the heavy equipment and spending needed to maintain the aging current system.

The demand for energy is growing faster than large power plants and transmission lines can be built. Distributed assets are ready to deploy—and they’re more affordable, too. There’s no reason not to tap into the energy solutions all around our homes and businesses.

What are some examples of distributed assets working at scale?

In the Northeast and Midwest (PJM), distributed asset programs have provided thousands of megawatts during heat waves this year, and consumers were directly compensated.

New York delivered six gigawatts of distributed solar early and under budget in 2024, saving customers millions on energy bills.

A pilot program in Texas provides the grid with nearly 60 megawatts of power from customer-sited assets, while microgrids have been used to keep hospitals running during outages.

Behind-the-meter solar and storage in New England helped prevent rolling blackouts for thousands of homes and saved all ratepayers tens of millions of dollars during a heatwave in the summer of 2025.

In California during the summer and fall of 2025, more than 100,000 distributed assets—marketed as a VPP—simultaneously discharged to the grid for two hours, performing the same function as a power plant, flattening peak energy demand.