Distributed assets 101.
Energy solutions are already here.
Batteries.
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Residential solar.
EV charging.
Smart thermostats.
Community solar.
Technologies help them work smarter.
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
We’re at an inflection point. Energy prices are climbing, reliability is slipping, and America’s grid is facing an explosive surge of demand for power.
We know that working together, faster and more decisively than ever before, we can give every state and policymaker the tools to harness and expand distributed solutions and dispatchable power that can cut rates and meet soaring demand today.
We are paving the path for a modern, more resilient energy system that maximizes the potential of all energy solutions while providing benefits to all of us.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Smart utilities and regulators work with distributed assets and use them to their advantage. There are examples of this all around the country. Our members work directly with utilities frequently.
No, Common Charge is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on helping the public understand the best ways to add distributed assets to their lives, and the benefits energy solutions bring to different markets. Common Charge is nonpartisan.