It’s on front pages and in speeches. It’s at dinner tables and in living rooms. The word is “affordability,” and there’s a good reason it’s everywhere. For many Americans, affordability is slipping further out of reach. Too many feel the cost-of-living squeeze and struggle to keep up with tighter family budgets. 

Three out of four Americans worry about their utility bills. Average monthly electric bills have increased by 34% since 2020. For families already making trade-offs between groceries, rent, and healthcare, energy has become another painful expense. 

State leaders across the Northeast are responding with urgency, proposing measures like bill credits, delayed collections, and one-time relief payouts. The Massachusetts House voted to cut $1 billion from its statewide energy rebate program. New Jersey is diverting dollars from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which bolsters energy efficiency investments into a one-time bill credit. And Rhode Island is proposing to delay climate commitments and cap efficiency program budgets—after slashing them by nearly half from previous years. 

The desire to address legitimate affordability concerns may be well-intentioned, but too many proposed solutions are paid for by raiding the very programs that have done the most to keep energy bills down for decades: Energy efficiency.

Affordability isn’t a short-term political talking point. Families and businesses need lower energy bills that stay low.

There are many factors that drive surging electric bills. The International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that electricity consumption by data centers is growing four times faster than total consumption across all other sectors. While the rapid growth of data centers grabs headlines, they are not the only cause of rising prices. A recent LBNL study found that rising transmission and distribution costs, extreme weather events, and natural gas price variability were all key drivers of state-level electricity price increases over the past several years.

Yet, in the face of growing electricity demand, we are hearing calls to reduce—even eliminate—energy efficiency funding in the name of affordability. Doing so would be more than illogical; it would be catastrophic. Remove energy efficiency, and people will end up paying more each month for power. 

Durable affordability doesn’t come from eliminating the very thing that drives it. Cutting energy efficiency to lower bills is like heating your home by burning your blankets.

Put down the matches. Energy efficiency programs work.

Efficiency programs reduce energy bills. They improve access to weatherization, efficient appliances, and heat pumps, delivering durable savings that show up on bills month after month. By lowering bills and electricity use, they reduce strain on the grid. They delay or even eliminate the need to build expensive new power plants, transmission lines, and distribution infrastructure. They increase flexibility, allowing utilities to manage peak loads while balancing supply and demand at a far lower cost. 

These benefits are not theoretical. A new analysis from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) found that efficiency programs can cut electricity use by 8% at less than half the cost of generating electricity from even the cheapest new gas plant. On top of that, it found the U.S. has enough load flexibility potential that can be deployed to offset one to two times the most aggressive projections for data center growth. 

This isn’t a niche climate tool; it’s the lowest-cost energy resource we have. It’s the workhorse that’s been saving people money for decades. Efficiency has kept electricity use nearly flat for 40 years, saving customers roughly $800 billion in the process.

In New England, Acadia Center found that energy efficiency programs delivered $55.1 billion in lifetime benefits between 2012 and 2023, returning more than three dollars for every dollar invested.

VEIC analysis shows that in Vermont alone, efficiency now meets more than 15% of the state’s electricity needs. Without those programs, residents and businesses would be buying 15% more power at today’s prices.

Organizations like Efficiency Vermont, the DC Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU), and Efficiency Smart have collectively delivered more than $694 million in customer incentives since 2000, generating over $5.6 billion in lifetime savings. Even in low-income communities, where projects face higher barriers, the DCSEU delivers $2.23 in lifetime energy savings for every $1 invested.

These are not abstract benefits. They show up in warmer homes and lower monthly bills that give families and businesses real breathing room.

In Washington, D.C., Cerise Turner accessed efficiency upgrades at no cost through programs administered by the DCSEU. The improvements reduced her utility expenses dramatically. As she put it, the savings mean having three meals a day, the ability to repair her car, and the confidence to remain in her home and age in place. 

For Bennington, Vermont’s Gulley-Ward family, weatherization upgrades reduced air leakage by 61%, saving them $600 on annual heating costs alone.

The impact extends beyond households. After a powerful storm destroyed a Vermont town’s public safety facilities, local officials rebuilt with high-efficiency design standards. The new building now saves about $13,000 in energy costs each year.

Customers understand these durable savings better than many policymakers. Public support for energy efficiency is overwhelming—81% of Americans support rebates and tax incentives for efficiency improvements.

It’s also bipartisan, with 90% of voters calling efficiency an “important” energy solution for our country. 

Given such support, it’s no surprise that demand for clean energy and efficiency programs is surging:

• In the District of Columbia, DCSEU residential rebates jumped eightfold in a single year, with participation rising nearly 70%.
• In Vermont, more than 34,700 households received efficiency support in 2024—that’s about one in eight homes. This included over 10,700 heat pump installations, 2,700 heat pump water heater installations, and hundreds of weatherization projects. 

When efficiency programs are available, families and businesses rush to take advantage of them. The sustained demand is matched by workforce growth: Efficiency Vermont’s trade ally network, for example, now tops 650 contractors, with 44% booking two to three months out and 71% getting one to five new requests per week. And in D.C., the Train Green program continues to build the local workforce, helping over 230 participants earn national credentials—up 250% from the previous year. The program has created more than 180 green jobs in two years.

The danger now is that states, under political pressure to act quickly, will trade away their best tool to reliably lower bills over time. Bill credits and rate freezes may help the most vulnerable, but when they are funded by cutting efficiency, the benefits are a mirage. These initiatives simply kick the can down the road—along with even higher costs. Connecticut learned the hard way, giving away $100 million in appropriated funds as temporary relief. The rate hikes that followed all but erased any short-term savings.

Affordability is not a slogan. It is the outcome of smart, sustained investment in upgrades that reduce energy use and household bills. 

States face a choice. They can chase short-term relief and make the next energy crisis worse. Or they can double down on what works.

Families and businesses can’t afford to be misled. They need a proven solution that delivers true, lasting affordability through lower bills.