Californians Agree: Clean Energy is Affordable Energy.
Bills are rising and energy demand is climbing. California’s next governor has the tools to cut costs, keep the lights on, and grow the country’s biggest clean energy economy.
What California
voters say
Affordability is the issue. California voters want the state to build faster, waste less, and put downward pressure on their bills. Across the political spectrum, Californians agree: we need to generate more homegrown energy, and fast.
Californians want to see more energy at lower prices using smart devices like home batteries and smart thermostats — but current policy isn’t keeping up.
California is the birthplace of the cheapest, most reliable energy technologies in the world — but we aren’t using them to their full potential. With the right leadership in Sacramento, we can lower bills and meet growing demand using both home energy devices and large-scale clean energy projects. Californians want action, and our next governor must deliver.
Access the full poll resultsOur next governor can
lead the way to lower bills
California’s grid is under pressure from extreme weather, aging infrastructure, and rising demand. Twenty-first-century energy technologies can address all three — if the state uses them fully.
Get shovels in the ground
Accelerate low-cost clean energy and transmission to keep pace with load growth and relieve rate pressure on every customer class.
- Expand transmission capacity with advanced technologies and faster permitting
- Use surplus interconnection to connect new energy more quickly
- Make permitting reforms deliver on their promise
- Align resource procurement with state reliability and emissions goals
Reduce waste, modernize the grid
Load flexibility is the fastest way to save ratepayers money. The CEC’s 7 GW load-shifting goal could avoid $13.7B in grid upgrade costs through 2030.
- Remove barriers to access and compensation for use of flexible technologies
- Direct state agencies to work together on a plan to scale virtual power plants
- Make it easier for customers to access their energy usage data with a statewide platform
Increase value for ratepayers
Electricity prices have surged 127% in a decade. Better planning — not more spending — is how the state brings them down.
- Integrate gas and electric planning to avoid costly over-investment
- Harness flexible, customer-sited devices instead of peaker plants or expanding the grid beyond what we need
- Lower transmission costs through new financing options and more competition
- Take advantage of the West’s full grid and resources through a regional energy market
Grow the EV market — and use it
Nearly 59,000 Californians work in the EV industry. Parked EVs can also be batteries the grid draws on when it needs them most.
- Continue to support EV incentives, manufacturing, and charging infrastructure
- Scale managed charging and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) beyond pilots
- Speed the buildout of new EV infrastructure through better coordination and transparency from state agencies and utilities
Already working
in California
The advanced energy economy isn’t a forecast. It’s a payroll, a school district’s budget line, and a factory in Baldwin Park.
Darden Clean Energy Project
A 1,150 MW solar facility paired with up to 4,600 MWh of storage — enough to power 850,000 homes for four hours, and the world’s largest battery system once complete.
2,000+ jobsChula Vista schools microgrid
Engie and Chula Vista Elementary built 8.1 MW of solar across 48 sites, with a microgrid that carries the district through the 4–9 p.m. peak instead of buying expensive grid power.
$70M savedHighland electric school buses
Districts from Compton to Roseville have electrified bus fleets, cutting overhead costs that go back into classrooms and getting diesel exhaust away from kids.
6 districtsRead the plan for California’s next governor
Every recommendation, the policy detail behind it, and what it means for the state’s 630,000 advanced energy workers.