August 21
Homebuyers Want More Information on Energy Usage
This week's top smart energy news, curated by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC).
Member News
Buying a home is one of the most consequential financial decisions that Americans make. With the national average mortgage rate hardly down from its recent 20-year high, buyers are already stretched, yet the purchase price of a home is only one cost to absorb. Buyers must also navigate the ongoing costs to operate and maintain a home, which include climbing energy rates.
Artificial intelligence is advancing faster than our energy systems were built to handle. I’ve watched this shift accelerate over the past few years, and the numbers are starting to reflect what utilities are already feeling on the ground. Across North America, electricity demand is rising in ways that challenge traditional planning models.
Peak demand has always been expensive, and progressively more so every year. As electrification, increasingly common extreme and volatile weather, and data center growth push loads higher, utilities are under pressure to find capacity fast without breaking rate cases wide open. Demand response gives utilities a lever to pull before signing off on a new peaker plant or a costly substation upgrade.
The Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) this week released the findings from the “Exploring Energy Affordability: Barriers and Opportunities” report, which is based on a nationally representative survey of more than 4,000 consumers. The new research shows that energy affordability has become one of the most pressing challenges facing American households.
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Industry News
Last fall, as generous federal incentives for consumer cleantech were set to expire, people raced to lock in good deals on EVs and rooftop solar. Then, this year, sales cratered. But home batteries bucked the trend. Federal tax credits for residential storage expired at the end of last year, prompting record sales in Q4 of 2025 – and then sales climbed even higher in the first quarter of 2026.
Tesla is launching a new residential backup power offering in Texas, combining its Powerwall home battery with a retail electricity plan through Tesla Electric. This is the first time Tesla is bundling a Powerwall lease with its retail electricity offering, which means a customer can get both a discounted rate on a home battery, and a lower fixed monthly electricity charge, all via Tesla itself.
The economics of electric vehicles are supposed to work in favor of consumers. Charging at home typically costs far less than filling a gas tank, making transitioning to an EV an opportunity for households to reduce monthly expenses while lowering emissions. But that promise depends on one thing: having access to affordable home charging.
Despite slower growth in the electric vehicle market, the public charging experience continues to improve, JD Power recently reported. Satisfaction with DC (direct current) fast chargers has improved dramatically in the past three quarters, while non-charging visits – instances in which EV owners arrive at a public charging station but are unable to charge their vehicle – have fallen to the lowest level ever recorded in the study.
