{"id":358408,"date":"2025-12-19T17:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T17:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/358408\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T17:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T17:16:07","slug":"a-year-of-big-wins-for-clean-affordable-power-in-the-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/358408\/","title":{"rendered":"A year of big wins for clean, affordable power in the States"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the Trump administration spent 2025 rolling back climate policies \u00ad\u2013 increasing harmful pollution and driving electricity costs higher for families \u2013 states\u00a0led with solutions<\/a>\u00a0that protect consumers, expand clean energy and advance more affordable, equitable electricity choices. These wins\u00a0didn\u2019t<\/a>\u00a0happen on their own. They happened where governors, regulators, consumer advocates, environmental organizations and community partners fought for cleaner air and lower bills \u2013 and where utilities were held accountable for delivering modern, reliable, cost-effective solutions. Here are some of Environmental Defense Fund and our partners\u2019 most meaningful victories from the past year:<\/p>\n

Illinois curbed rate hikes and expanded access to clean, affordable electricity<\/p>\n

Illinois regulators cut gas utilities\u2019\u00a0proposed rate increases in half<\/a>, trimmed the utilities\u2019 profit rates, and rejected renewable natural gas proposals that would have raised costs without providing environmental value. EDF and Illinois PIRG were involved for months, urging regulators to require cleaner, cheaper alternatives \u2013 and the decision sends a clear message that\u00a0utilities must modernize<\/a>\u00a0and offer cleaner, more affordable alternatives rather than double down on yesterday\u2019s gas infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Illinois regulators also unlocked more than\u00a0$250 million<\/a>\u00a0for an electrified clean energy future: EV charging, fleet electrification, small business support and customer benefits. When the Illinois Attorney General challenged the Commission\u2019s authority to approve these programs, EDF and partners\u00a0intervened<\/a>\u00a0and won on all contested issues, protecting this progress.<\/p>\n

EDF secured\u00a0a landmark agreement with a utility to add\u00a0new and expanded transmission lines<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 one of the most powerful tools for keeping electricity clean and affordable \u00ad\u2013 and\u00a0deploy\u00a0grid-enhancing technologies<\/a>\u00a0to boost the performance of\u00a0existing lines. These advanced hardware and software tools can cut the time and cost of connecting renewable energy to the grid.\u00a0The agreement is expected to create up to 32,000 jobs, support power for 1.8 million homes, and deliver long-term savings for customers across the Midwest and beyond.<\/p>\n

In Illinois, a\u00a0new electricity rate called Rate BEST<\/a>\u00a0helps Commonwealth Edison\u00a0customers<\/a>\u00a0save money using more renewable energy by shifting electricity use to times of day when power tends to be more affordable and cleaner. Since 2015, EDF and the Citizens Utility Board have\u00a0championed time-of-use rates<\/a>\u00a0in Illinois, working with ComEd to\u00a0design, pilot, and bring Rate BEST<\/a>\u00a0to customers in the new year.<\/p>\n

New York advanced heat pump affordability and modern grid planning<\/p>\n

EDF and partners\u00a0secured an agreement<\/a>\u00a0with Con Edison to expand access to simpler, fairer electric rates designed for heat pumps \u2013 helping households cut heating bills and\u00a0<\/a>realize the full benefits of clean, efficient heating. These types of rates can save an average customer around $500 per year in energy costs. The utility will also expand outreach and education programs to help customers understand their options.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the New York Public Service Commission advanced\u00a029 critical electric grid upgrades<\/a>\u00a0to support electric vehicle (EV) charging and building electrification, then adopted a\u00a0proactive planning framework<\/a>\u00a0that speeds interconnection of new loads while cutting costs. EDF\u2019s recommendations helped drive these reforms.<\/p>\n

Texas advanced EV charging and smarter grid planning<\/p>\n

Texas also saw meaningful progress in 2025. EDF\u00a0secured commitments<\/a>\u00a0from the utility CenterPoint to improve EV forecasting and modernize distribution system planning \u2013 essential steps for cost-effective electrification in one of the country\u2019s fastest-growing EV markets. CenterPoint also\u00a0committed to bolster its efforts<\/a>\u00a0to support the Port of Houston\u2019s ongoing electrification, a move that will cut pollution and improve public health in surrounding communities.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts helped customers reduce energy bills with clean heat<\/p>\n

Massachusetts utilities \u2013 Unitil, National Grid, and Eversource \u2013\u00a0cut winter electricity rates<\/a>\u00a0for homes using heat pumps, saving these households about $540 on average this winter, a 17% reduction in heating bills. Adopted by the Department of Public Utilities, the rates fix long-standing inequities in how heat pump customers are charged. EDF\u00a0intervened<\/a>\u00a0in National Grid\u2019s rate case to secure the heat pump rate for all heat pump homes and a tiered discount rate of 32-71% for income qualifying households regardless of whether their home has a heat pump.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to 2026, EDF and partners are pushing for deeper seasonal delivery-charge discounts to better align winter electric heating costs with natural gas.\u00a0New analysis<\/a>\u00a0commissioned by EDF shows that fairer rate design could enable more than 80% of Massachusetts homes to save an average of $687 in a single season \u2013 unlocking even greater benefits from clean electric heating and providing a model for other states.<\/p>\n

In addition, Massachusetts began implementing landmark siting and permitting reforms adopted by the state legislature in late 2024. These reforms streamline and speed up the deployment of clean energy infrastructure, while helping ensure robust community engagement and careful consideration of project impacts. This year, the state released draft guidance and proposed regulations on site suitability assessments, cumulative impacts, and related issues. EDF has\u00a0actively<\/a>\u00a0engaged<\/a>\u00a0at every stage of this process and remains committed to supporting the successful implementation of these critical reforms.<\/p>\n

New Jersey protected customers and stopped costly hydrogen blending experiments<\/p>\n

New Jersey regulators rejected a utility proposal to make customers pay for unproductive experiments blending hydrogen and biomethane \u2013 rebranded as \u201crenewable natural gas\u201d \u2013into the gas system. EDF helped negotiate a\u00a0settlement that scales back<\/a>\u00a0Public Service Electric & Gas\u2019 (PSE&G) planned infrastructure spending, protecting households from unnecessary costs and keeping the state focused on cleaner, proven, and more affordable solutions. EDF also\u00a0commissioned a study<\/a>\u00a0showing that PSE&G\u2019s proposed hydrogen blending is far less efficient than helping customers electrify home heating with heat pumps.<\/p>\n

A year of progress despite Washington\u2019s attempts to reverse course<\/p>\n

In a year when the Trump administration focused on undermining climate progress and helped drive up electricity costs, states showed what real leadership looks like. They cut unjustified rate hikes, rejected wasteful gas spending, required utilities to invest in modernizing the grid, expanded clean energy and secured fairer, more affordable electric rates for millions of families.<\/p>\n

The message from 2025 is clear: a cleaner, more affordable, and fairer electricity system is possible, and EDF is committed to helping states deliver on this promise for everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the Trump administration spent 2025 rolling back climate policies \u00ad\u2013 increasing harmful pollution and driving electricity costs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-358408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}