The guide, Affordable, Clean, Reliable American Energy: A Guide for States, comes as Americans face surging electricity bills, rising housing costs, and transportation expenses tied to volatile global oil markets. Residential electricity rates have risen more than 10% nationally over the past year, and as much as 20% in some states. The average American household spends more on gasoline than on natural gas and electricity combined. More than 42 million families spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

Read the full guide here.

“Americans are being squeezed by a cost-of-living crisis, and the bills keep piling up: electricity, rent, and gas at the pump. And the worsening impacts of the climate crisis are piling even more costs onto families nationwide. But rising household bills aren’t inevitable. They’re the product of policy choices that can be changed,” said Evergreen Collaborative Executive Director Lena Moffitt. “States have powerful tools to deliver real relief right now, and even more powerful tools to hold costs down for the long haul. Clean energy, efficient homes, and smarter transportation choices are the most affordable path forward for American families, and state leaders can start delivering results now.”

The guide’s more than 30 policy recommendations span three sectors that together account for the largest share of most household budgets:

Clean Power: Recommendations include requiring AI data centers to pay for the grid costs they impose on other customers, reforming utility profit structures to tie earnings to performance rather than spending, expanding bill assistance programs, accelerating the deployment of solar and wind power, and adopting advanced transmission technologies that allow more electricity to flow through existing power lines.

Housing: The guide calls on states to legalize more housing types and remove parking mandates that drive up the cost of new homes, modernize building energy codes, adopt all-electric building standards, support heat pump upgrades for existing homes through on-bill financing and clean heat standards, and stop subsidizing the expansion of aging gas infrastructure that is growing more expensive as customers switch to electric alternatives.

Transportation: Recommendations include point-of-sale rebates and financing support to make EVs more accessible; expanded charging infrastructure in low-income and rural communities; EV-ready wiring requirements in new construction; smarter electricity rates for EV owners; transit-oriented development near existing transit lines; and stable, dedicated funding for public transit systems.

“Every recommendation in this guide is backed by evidence from states already putting these policies into practice,” said Evergreen Collaborative Vice President of Policy Pete Wyckoff. “Minnesota has required data centers to pay higher rates while cutting rates for other customers. Illinois has lowered guaranteed utility profit margins. Michigan has streamlined clean energy interconnection. Maryland has unlocked state-owned land near transit for housing. These aren’t idealistic solutions—they are working policies that are already saving families money, and more states can adopt them.”

Find this release online here.