Communities should treat electricity affordability and risk together

Stephen Abbott of RMI argues that communities should consider electricity affordability and risk together and pursue diverse, distributed energy portfolios rather than relying solely on large centralized fossil-fuel generation.

• Main announcement/action: Communities and local governments should adopt portfolio-based energy strategies (energy efficiency, batteries, renewables, virtual power plants, and other flexible resources) to reduce price volatility and operational risk; RMI highlights concrete examples including data center-driven load growth of 32% by 2030, and Burlington’s 59,204 MWh annual reduction from its energy efficiency program.
• Background and details: The piece cites recent cost and risk evidence: ComEd provided $277 million (2024) for efficiency programs yielding an estimated $3.2 billion in customer savings; reliance on fossil fuels produced at least $390 million in excess costs for communities around the Prairie State Energy Campus over four years; typical monthly fuel charges in Florida doubled from ~$20 to ~$40 (2020–2023); utilities such as TVA are proposing large new gas facilities as a conventional response.