California passes bill allowing customer-owned clean energy to compete with traditional power sources for grid reliability

California has passed a new law, Senate Bill 913, that could let homeowners get paid more easily for the clean energy equipment they already have installed. The bill orders the state's utility regulator to rework how it plans for grid reliability, so home batteries, solar-plus-storage systems, electric vehicles with two-way charging, smart thermostats, and heat pumps connected to the grid can compete alongside traditional power plants to keep the lights on during peak demand.

For homeowners, this matters because utilities like PG&E, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric will now have to count these home devices as real sources of grid capacity, not just extras. The law also makes it easier to register a home system with a "virtual power plant" program, which bundles many households' devices together so the grid can draw on them during heat waves or high-demand evenings. It allows one property to combine several technologies, such as an EV charger, thermostat, and solar battery, into one account, and it requires payment for the power exported to be measured at the device level.

The change is meant to reduce the need for utilities to build costly new power plants and transmission lines, expenses that normally show up on customer bills. Supporters argue that better use of existing home equipment can ease strain on the grid and put downward pressure on electricity rates. The law itself does not set exact payment rates yet. The California Public Utilities Commission will now begin a rulemaking process to work out the specific compensation and enrollment rules that utilities and technology providers will follow.