Lower Bills.
Brighter Future.
Working to make energy more affordable for California families.
Who We Are
The Affordable Energy Campaign is made up of environmental, environmental justice, consumer, and economic justice organizations working together to identify, develop, and implement solutions that will lower California families’ energy bills.
At a time of rising energy costs and accelerating climate impacts, we bring together policy expertise, community perspective, and technical insight to create real solutions. We serve as a trusted resource for policymakers and regulators — grounding every recommendation in equity, data, and the lived experiences of California’s diverse communities.
We advance policies that reduce costs for California ratepayers, deploy clean energy in ways that support high-road jobs and a strong, skilled workforce, and modernize regulatory structures to support lower bills, better safety and reliability, accountability and community resilience.
By uniting these perspectives, the Affordable Energy Campaign fills a critical gap and helps ensure California’s clean energy transition delivers real, lasting affordability for the families who need it most.
California’s Energy Affordability Crisis
California residents are facing an unprecedented affordability crisis. Since 2016, electricity rates for the state’s investor-owned utilities have nearly doubled, while inflation rose 37%. Families are choosing between energy and essentials. Millions are falling behind on bills with no relief in sight.
Over the last decade, California residents have seen electricity bills skyrocket.
Rising
Rates
69%
increase at PG&E
101%
increase at SCE
98%
increase at SDG&E
>> 2.17 million PG&E, SCE and SDG&E customers are behind on bills.
>>Average past-due debt: $738 per household.
What’s Driving This Crisis?
There are a number of factors at play that are driving up costs for California families.
The current utility framework for investor-owned utilities ties profits to building more infrastructure, perversely rewarding spending over savings.
Grid costs are rising while proven, lower-cost solutions—like distributed energy resources and virtual power plants—remain underdeployed.
California residents are struggling with mounting utility debt and an increasing risk of power shutoffs as investor-owned utilities continue requesting major rate hikes.
What We Need Now
Immediate bill relief and emergency support for households facing unaffordable bills and shutoffs.
Cost control and accountability for wildfire spending and utility over-spending, with decisions guided by the public interest and customer affordability, and alternative financing tools for any necessary utility spending to reduce borrowing costs and protect families from bearing the costs of catastrophic wildfires, support robust statewide investment in community-focused prevention, and long-term bill increases.
Lower-cost clean energy alternatives — such as non-wires alternatives like community power networks with distributed energy resources, virtual power plants, and grid enhancing technologies to avoid unnecessary grid costs and fossil fuels where they demonstrably reduce total system costs
Plan for large new loads like data centers in ways that ensure large energy users pay their fair share and don’t make California residents pay the bill.
Get in Touch
We’re Working on Real Solutions.
The Affordable Energy Campaign is developing concrete policies to lower bills for California residents. Get involved and help make affordable energy a reality.
Send us a message.
Coalition members include:
