Carrier, Tesla, and Industry Leaders Launch Campaign to Lower Electricity Costs by Unlocking Underused Grid Capacity

WASHINGTON, March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A new industry-led coalition, Utilize, today announced its launch to address the most urgent challenges facing the U.S. energy system: growing electricity demand and rising power bills driven in part by an electric grid that is built for short periods of peak use but underutilized most of the time.

Utilize brings together leading companies, utilities, and policy organizations to advance smarter, faster, and more affordable use of existing grid infrastructure—helping states meet growing demand from data centers, manufacturing, and electrification without unnecessary cost or delay. The coalition's founding members include Carrier, Google, Renew Home, Sparkfund, SPAN, Verrus™, and Tesla, representing a broad cross-section of distributed energy providers, large electricity customers, and grid-enabling technology companies.

"For decades, we've built the grid to meet peak demand, even though large portions of it sit unused for most hours of the year," said Ian Magruder, Executive Director of Utilize. "It's like building an airplane that only flies with full passengers a few times a year. That excess capacity is hiding in plain sight, and new technologies give us the opportunity to unlock it. Better grid utilization is one of the fastest, most practical levers states can pull to reduce power bills while supporting economic growth."

Utilize is designed as a nonpartisan, state-focused coalition that works with governors, legislatures, utilities, regulators, and stakeholders across the political spectrum. The coalition supports technology-neutral policies that increase grid utilization by aligning planning, incentives, and regulatory frameworks around affordability, reliability, and speed. The coalition will engage directly with states to help translate research into action, working alongside policymakers, industry, utilities, and consumer advocates to ensure better grid utilization becomes a core principle of modern grid planning.

To illustrate the magnitude of the opportunity, Utilize will soon release new, independent research conducted by The Brattle Group, which will show that U.S. consumers could save over $100 billion over ten years on their electricity bills due to system utilization improvements. An increase in utilization will also enable economic growth by allowing new electricity consumers to connect to the grid more quickly.

"Battery storage and distributed energy resources are already demonstrating how smarter use of the grid can improve affordability. These technologies can help meet demand during the most constrained hours, while avoiding the need for additional generation and grid infrastructure investments," said Colby Hastings, Senior Director of Residential Energy at Tesla. "With the right policy frameworks, these resources can reduce costs for customers while strengthening grid reliability."

"As demand grows, the priority has to be meeting new load without driving up costs for existing customers. Google is proud to support Utilize's work to unlock underused capacity so growth in electricity demand translates into broader affordability and system benefits," said Ellen Zuckerman, Head of Energy Market Development for North & South America at Google.

"Better grid utilization depends on coordinated action across technology, utilities, and policymakers," said Hakan Yilmaz, President at Carrier Energy and Chief Sustainability Officer at Carrier Global. "Flexible, intelligent energy systems have a significant role to play in improving grid performance. Smart heating and cooling solutions can help manage peaks and maximize existing infrastructure, reducing the need for costly overbuild."

Leading consumer groups also support greater grid utilization. "Serving rising electricity demand while keeping bills affordable for all customers requires using every available tool to increase power supply and reduce costly grid constraints," said Jeff Dennis, Executive Director of the Electricity Customer Alliance. "Improving grid utilization to get more out of the grid we already have is a low-cost, near-term way to expand available supply, meet growing demand, spread fixed costs across more electricity sales, and put downward pressure on bills for households and businesses."

Research shows the opportunity is substantial. A recent analysis from Duke University examining 22 U.S. regional power systems found that the electric grid operates at just 53 percent of capacity on average, meaning that generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure is underused for much of the year. The study estimates that 76 to 215 gigawatts of additional demand could be served on existing systems while remaining below historical peak conditions for all but a limited number of hours, illustrating how improved grid utilization can help serve new load without immediately requiring major new infrastructure investments.

Underutilization is also evident on the transmission system. A Stanford University study of the Western U.S. grid found that even during peak periods, most transmission lines were carrying only 18 to 52 percent of their available capacity, with the majority clustered around roughly 30 percent utilization. These findings indicate that significant transmission capacity already exists but is not consistently accessible due to operational and planning constraints, making grid utilization a critical tool for serving new demand and spreading fixed grid costs over more electricity sales.

As an early policy win, some members of Utilize backed Virginia's grid-utilization bill (SB 621 / HB 434), a first-in-the-nation requirement that major utilities quantify how much of the grid is actually being used and incorporate those metrics into State Corporation Commission (SCC) planning and regulatory review. The legislation would direct the SCC and utilities to establish grid utilization metrics and use them to inform future grid investment decisions. The measure passed with bipartisan support and is now awaiting Governor Spanberger's signature. Utilize is already engaging governors and lawmakers in other states—across party lines—who have expressed interest in replicating this approach.

ABOUT UTILIZE
Utilize is an industry-led coalition focused on increasing grid utilization to make electricity cheaper, faster, and more reliable. The coalition works with policymakers, utilities, and stakeholders to unlock unused capacity on the existing electric grid, helping states meet rising demand while lowering electricity rates. Learn more at www.utilizecoalition.org.

Media Contact:
Jamie Nolan, [email protected], 410-463-9869

SOURCE Utilize Coalition