The Local Power Blueprint
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How states can strengthen grid reliability and lower bills with local clean energy
The challenge
For over a hundred years, our electricity system has been built around centralized power plants that send electricity across hundreds of miles of wires to where people work and live. Today, that system is straining under growing demand, aging infrastructure, and extreme weather, while every new plant or transmission line takes years to build and costs billions.
Utilities have little reason to change course. They earn nearly all of their profit by building infrastructure, so the more they build, the more they earn.
Local power is the answer
There is a better, cheaper, and faster way to keep the lights on and prices low. Rooftop and community solar, home and neighborhood batteries, electric vehicles and chargers, smart thermostats, and efficient technologies can do the job of new power plants at a fraction of the cost and time. This is local power, sometimes called distributed energy resources or virtual power plants, and it is already working across the country.
- Lowers bills for everyone
- Costs less to build than alternatives
- Builds fast and is modular
- Provides reliable, secure power that keeps the lights on
- Is efficient and clean
- Is built for today's grid
It is already working
Estimated customer savings during a single weeklong heat wave in 2026
Distributed batteries installed by the end of 2024, more than either large nuclear reactor southwest of Houston. A program paying local power for grid services grew nearly 20x in about two years.
Demand reduced during a record winter peak in January 2025, saving more than $1 million in a single day
Delivered by batteries in the state's virtual power plant, about the capacity of a 500-megawatt gas plant
Drop in statewide demand from distributed solar during a summer heat wave, saving consumers an estimated $200 million
Independent experts estimate 60 gigawatts of virtual power plants nationwide could meet future grid needs for $15-35 billion less than the alternatives over ten years.
What states can do
I. Produce more power locally, and do it fast
Let home and community solar, batteries, EV charging, microgrids, and plug-in solar get built, connected, and paid.
Require data centers and other large new customers to fund local clean power and offer flexibility as a condition of grid access.
Adopt fast, predictable statewide interconnection and instant online permitting, and use green banks to lower the cost of capital.
and for shifting when they use electricity.
Design programs so renters, low-income households, small businesses, and rural and Tribal communities can take part.
II. Use the system we have more efficiently
Require utilities to cut overall use and help customers shift their electricity use.
Let local solar, batteries and smart devices work together in virtual power plants that households and businesses can participate in and facilitate data access.
Reform the utility business model to profit when they perform well (put local power to work, cut costs, and improve reliability) and penalize them when they miss the mark.
Require utilities to show where the grid is strained and let local solutions compete before building new infrastructure.
Allow third-party ownership and inclusive utility investment so upfront costs do not keep people out.
The time to act is now
Electricity bills are climbing faster than Americans can keep up, but nothing about this is set in stone. State policymakers write the rules that determine what gets built, who builds it, who profits, and who is left holding the tab. Costs being debated in utility proceedings today could show up on bills within the next year, and every unnecessary new power plant locks in spending that customers will pay off for decades. Local power is here now and can be deployed in months.
The cheapest, fastest, most reliable power we can add to the grid is power produced closer to where it is used.
States across the country have already shown what's working. This blueprint lays out how they did it, policy by policy, as a resource for governors, legislators, regulators, other state officials, advocates, the press, and the general public.
About the Blueprint
Common Charge is a coalition of consumers, nonprofits and businesses, founded in September 2025, working with state legislators, regulators, industry and advocates to remove the barriers that keep local power from delivering its full value.
Coalition members
Authors and reviewers
This document was prepared as an educational tool. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of any individual Common Charge coalition member. Reference to any company, product or service does not imply endorsement. See the full Blueprint for the complete disclaimer.