State legislatures can’t touch the actual drivers behind high bills. Their new strategy? Targeting the only visible line item they can—the efficiency surcharge. 

Maryland’s recently inked bill, for example, promises over $150 in average annual household savings by weakening utility emissions reduction targets through 2029. MA and RI are following similar playbooks.

The trap: While cutting these surcharges offers immediate, PR-friendly relief, it defies grid economics by ensuring future unmitigated demand must be met by pricey generation.

This year, support for ramping up nuclear reached a record high of 46% public approval, per a March Gallup poll of 1,000 adults. It’s the only power source to see a boost in public backing since 2021. It also (yet again) showed the narrowest partisan gap of any energy source, with 52% of Republicans and 42% of Democrats favoring an increased focus on nuclear.

Most respondents said they want the US to emphasize solar (66%) and wind (55%), but support for these sources has dropped by 7% and 11% respectively since 2021.

Not in my backyard: Despite rising public approval, 53% still oppose the construction of a nuclear plant in their area. 

Just 11 of these campuses have the potential to emit over 129M tons of GHGs per year, according to Wired’s analysis of air permit docs. That’s more than Morocco (a population of over 38M people) did in 2024—and even if actual emissions end up being half of the permit estimates, they’d still beat Norway’s (pop. around 5M people) from that year.

While Big Tech claims natural gas is just a “bridge” to clean energy, skeptics abound. Because data centers require constant, unwavering power, these private gas plants will run more consistently than traditional grid-connected plants, which fluctuate with consumer demand. So why cross the bridge at all?

The bill requires FERC to grant extensions to hydro projects that failed to start construction due to pandemic-era shutdowns and lingering supply chain bottlenecks. Now, it’s headed to Trump’s desk.

The grid impact: Lawmakers emphasized hydro’s role in delivering dependable baseload to roughly 30M homes and businesses, as well as providing nearly 40% of the nation's "black start" capacity to reboot the grid following major outages.

The issue: Massive, transmission-connected battery projects can cost tens of millions and sit in the regional interconnection queue for years. The fix? Battery developer Lightshift Energy thinks smaller, distribution-connected storage can offer the same aggregate scale. Lightshift is deploying 5-MW battery installations at properties owned by Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, Craig-Botetourt Electric Cooperative, and the city of Salem.

Operating as peak-shaving assets, these batteries will charge during low demand and discharge during high demand, providing a capacity buffer against PJM's massive load growth—and saving an estimated $100M over their service life.

In a partnership with Lunar Energy, Octopus is offering 30-kWh home battery systems to Texas residents—zero upfront costs. Instead of buying the system outright, customers lock in an 8 cent/kWh fixed energy rate for three years while paying a $45/month subscription for the battery itself (with an option to own).

The dual purpose: (1) It automatically keeps essential home power running during grid outages and (2) actively manages when power is stored, used, and sent back to the grid. 

New York is fresh off hitting its 6-GW target a year early. Now, the ASAP Act keeps the momentum going. It leans heavily on the state’s NY-Sun program to incentivize rooftop and community solar, explicitly mandating that at least 35% of capacity benefits low- to moderate-income households. NY SEIA claims the bill will deliver over $1B in avoided energy costs every year.

The NY Senate also passed a bill that would permit small plug-in solar and portable solar generation devices in residential and commercial buildings (after national certification gets ironed out).