SACRAMENTO, CA— In the face of rising electricity costs, growing reliability challenges, and ambitious climate goals, California needs to invest in building a more modern, flexible, and resilient electricity grid. While the May Revision to the 2025–26 state budget maintains some investments in critical programs that help ensure affordable, reliable energy, it falls short of the broader vision needed to unlock customer-driven cost-saving energy solutions, empower customers, and reduce dependence on costly, polluting resources.

Although Governor Gavin Newsom’s budget reflects the tough decisions required in a difficult fiscal year, the state continues to miss opportunities to accelerate its transition to cleaner, more affordable energy.

“California has the tools to build a grid that is more affordable, reliable, and clean, and this budget maintains funding for some critical programs that help achieve those goals,” said Edson Perez, California lead at Advanced Energy United (United). “However, it falls short of the visionary change needed to truly reduce costs, maintain reliability, and achieve our clean energy targets. At this critical moment, California must do more than maintain the status quo: we have to lead.”

At the same time, United commends Governor Newsom for championing the reauthorization of the state’s cap-and-trade program, a critical step in reinforcing California’s long-term climate and energy goals. That leadership must now be matched with near-term action to invest in the technologies and programs that will make those goals achievable and affordable.

United also calls on the legislature to maintain prior commitments to the Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) and Distributed Electricity Backup Assets (DEBA) programs, initiatives designed to deploy customer-sited resources like batteries, smart thermostats, and microgrids that provide emergency support during extreme weather and reduce pressure on the grid. These are not speculative solutions—they’ve already proven their value.

“Businesses across the state stand ready to scale these clean, customer-sited technologies, but need consistent investment and clear market signals to do so. Pulling back now would risk stalling progress, increasing future costs, and leaving Californians more vulnerable to outages and energy price spikes,” added Perez.

United urges the Governor and Legislature to ensure California is not just meeting its targets today—but leading the way toward the future.