June 26
Platte River, EnergyHub Partner to Deploy 39-MW Colorado VPP
This week's top smart energy news, curated by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC).
Member News
Platte River Power Authority, a public power utility in Colorado, is partnering with EnergyHub to design and deploy a virtual power plant to provide dispatchable power to support an increasingly renewable portfolio, Platte River said in a release last week. The first VPP program is planned to launch in late summer and will focus on smart thermostats, the utility said in its release, with EV charging management launching later this year.
Energy affordability is now a defining issue for customers, utilities and regulators, dominating conversations across conference tables and kitchen tables. U.S. retail electricity prices rose 9% year over year in February 2026 across all sectors, with residential rates specifically increasing 7.4%. This continued upward pressure is hitting household energy bills hard, at a time when 67% of U.S. households are living paycheck to paycheck.
Would you pay more for a home with a heat pump? You can bet I would. I’d gladly fork over more money to bypass a gas or oil furnace, which – unlike an all-electric heat pump – spews toxic combustion by-products, runs the risk of poisoning my family with carbon monoxide and contributes to climate change.
The Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC), a nonprofit organization that studies consumer behaviors, interests and concerns in the energy transition, recently released the findings from the “Home Buying in the Energy Transition” report, which analyzed the roles energy efficiency and clean energy technologies play in the home-buying process.
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Industry News
According to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, summer cooling costs are expected to hit record highs this year, and household electric bills are expected to climb 10.5%. The NEADA said that on average U.S. households can expect to spend nearly $800 on electricity this summer due to rising temperatures and higher power prices. Last year, households averaged $717 compared to today’s $792.
Homeowners in Massachusetts and Connecticut can now get a steep discount on a Tesla Powerwall – but only if they agree to let the backup battery help out the grid, too. Under a new virtual power plant (VPP) program announced recently, the U.S. market leader in residential energy storage is offering certain households long-term, no-money-down leases for one or more Powerwalls.
The United States added 3.3 GW/8.4 GWh of energy storage in the first quarter of 2026, according to the latest figures from Wood Mackenzie and the American Clean Power Association. All three segments – utility-scale, residential and commercial/community/industrial – notched records for the seasonally slow first quarter.
For years, natural gas has dominated electricity production in the climate-conscious Golden State, just as it has nationally. In both cases, this fossil fuel delivered about 40% of annual generation for much of the last decade. But that started to change in California as solar developers and rooftop installers added more and more capacity, and big batteries joined the party too.
