A new coalition has launched today to address growing electricity demand and rising power bills in the United States.
Utilize brings together companies, utilities and policy organizations to advance smarter, faster and more affordable use of existing grid infrastructure — helping states meet growing demand from data centers, manufacturing and electrification without unnecessary cost or delay. The coalition’s founding members include Carrier, Google, Renew Home, Sparkfund, Span, Verrus and Tesla, representing a broad cross-section of distributed energy providers, large electricity customers and grid-enabling technology companies.
“For decades, we’ve built the grid to meet peak demand, even though large portions of it sit unused for most hours of the year,” said Ian Magruder, Executive Director of Utilize. “It’s like building an airplane that only flies with full passengers a few times a year. That excess capacity is hiding in plain sight, and new technologies give us the opportunity to unlock it. Better grid utilization is one of the fastest, most practical levers states can pull to reduce power bills while supporting economic growth.”
Utilize is designed as a nonpartisan, state-focused coalition that works with governors, legislatures, utilities, regulators and stakeholders across the political spectrum. The coalition supports technology-neutral policies that increase grid utilization by aligning planning, incentives and regulatory frameworks around affordability, reliability and speed. The coalition will engage directly with states to help translate research into action, working alongside policymakers, industry, utilities and consumer advocates to ensure better grid utilization becomes a core principle of modern grid planning.
To illustrate the magnitude of the opportunity, Utilize will soon release new, independent research conducted by The Brattle Group, which will show that U.S. consumers could save over $100 billion over 10 years on their electricity bills due to system utilization improvements. An increase in utilization will also enable economic growth by allowing new electricity consumers to connect to the grid more quickly.
“Battery storage and distributed energy resources are already demonstrating how smarter use of the grid can improve affordability. These technologies can help meet demand during the most constrained hours, while avoiding the need for additional generation and grid infrastructure investments,” said Colby Hastings, Senior Director of Residential Energy at Tesla. “With the right policy frameworks, these resources can reduce costs for customers while strengthening grid reliability.”
“As demand grows, the priority has to be meeting new load without driving up costs for existing customers. Google is proud to support Utilize’s work to unlock underused capacity so growth in electricity demand translates into broader affordability and system benefits,” said Ellen Zuckerman, Head of Energy Market Development for North & South America at Google.
Research shows the opportunity is substantial. A recent analysis from Duke University examining 22 U.S. regional power systems found that the electric grid operates at just 53% of capacity on average, meaning that generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure is underused for much of the year. The study estimates that 76 to 215 GW of additional demand could be served on existing systems while remaining below historical peak conditions for all but a limited number of hours, illustrating how improved grid utilization can help serve new load without immediately requiring major new infrastructure investments.
Underutilization is also evident on the transmission system. A Stanford University study of the Western U.S. grid found that even during peak periods, most transmission lines were carrying only 18 to 52% of their available capacity, with the majority clustered around roughly 30% utilization. These findings indicate that significant transmission capacity already exists but is not consistently accessible due to operational and planning constraints, making grid utilization a critical tool for serving new demand and spreading fixed grid costs over more electricity sales.
As an early policy win, some members of Utilize backed Virginia’s grid-utilization bill (SB 621/HB 434), a first-in-the-nation requirement that major utilities quantify how much of the grid is actually being used and incorporate those metrics into State Corporation Commission (SCC) planning and regulatory review. The legislation would direct the SCC and utilities to establish grid utilization metrics and use them to inform future grid investment decisions. The measure passed with bipartisan support and is now awaiting Gov. Spanberger’s signature. Utilize is already engaging governors and lawmakers in other states who have expressed interest in replicating this approach.
News item from Utilize
