SACRAMENTO, Calif.-The California Legislature voted today to improve energy affordability by authorizing independent governance of western energy markets, introducing public financing for long range transmission projects, and reauthorizing the state's Cap-and-Invest program. This package of proposals will bring electricity rates down by improving coordination and efficiency across regional energy markets, reducing interest rates for large-scale transmission projects and redirecting credits from the Cap-and-Invest program to directly reduce the price of electricity for consumers. The new initiatives also support California's clean energy transition, which requires transmission upgrades and investment to continue advancing.

Below is a statement by Daniel Barad, Western states senior policy manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

"While the Trump administration's fossil fuel fealty continues to exacerbate the climate crisis, the California legislature affirmed its commitment to a clean energy future. Today's sweeping actions will also make energy more affordable for ratepayers at a time when people are struggling to cope with rising costs of living.

"Lowering energy prices for the long haul requires forward-thinking investments in the electricity grid to benefit all Californians. Improving coordination across western energy markets will create a cleaner, more efficient and more reliable grid for decades to come. This will enable California to export more of its excess solar energy to neighboring states while cutting electricity prices at home.

"The reauthorization and restructuring of Cap-and-Invest's climate credits will lower electricity rates for all Californians and incentivize broader electrification, representing an important new chapter for the program.

"Expanding long range, high voltage transmission is essential to bringing additional clean energy projects online and retiring costly, outdated fossil fuel plants. To date, California has struggled to complete these critical projects on time. Public financing of transmission will support acceleration of these projects at a lower cost, leading to increased savings and improved electricity reliability for California ratepayers. Looking ahead, creating even more public financing mechanisms for electricity grid infrastructure could further add to these benefits."

Additional UCS Resources:

• Report on California transmission delays
• Policy brief on western grid regionalization
• Blog post on western grid regionalization governance (Pathways Initiative)
• Blog post on the benefits of publicly financing transmission projects
• Blog post on bottlenecks California power generators face bringing new projects online
• Blog post on California clean energy permitting
• Blog post on state transmission authorities