New CEBA report outlines emerging clean energy tariffs and highlights collaborative solutions developed by energy buyers and utilities
Seattle, Washington (May 21, 2026) — As regulators work to ensure reliable, affordable power at a time of rapidly increasing demand growth, emerging clean energy tariffs and recent collaborations between large commercial and industrial customers and electric utilities offer innovative solutions that can be scaled across the U.S.
Today, CEBA is publishing “Powering Progress: The Critical Role of Clean Energy Tariffs,” a new report spotlighting examples of innovative ways utilities can advance reliable, affordable, clean electricity for large businesses, such as retailers, industrial loads, and data centers, without
shifting costs to other ratepayers.
“Clean energy tariffs have a critical role to play in meeting surging power demand, driving clean energy innovation, and sparking smarter system planning,” said Nidhi Thakar, CEBA’s Senior Vice President for Policy. “With the right models and tools, state regulators are well-positioned to support critical partnerships between utilities and large loads to work together and bring down costs on the grid while capturing economic development in their states.”
The analysis outlines a key role for regulators in helping create the enabling environment to scale solutions, including:
- Standardizing core tariff frameworks while preserving flexibility
- Ensuring timely cost-recovery certainty for utilities while balancing overall system costs
- Providing clear, predictable approval pathways for both standard and nonstandard contracts
- Encouraging early collaboration before integrated resource planning and large load filings
- Explicitly recognizing the reliability, affordability, and economic development value of clean firm resources
“Clean energy tariffs, if designed effectively, have a critical role to play in meeting load growth, ensuring reliable power, and relieving upward price pressure on all ratepayers,” said lead report author Priya Barua, CEBA’s Senior Director of Utility Partnerships & Innovation. “Large energy customers want to be part of the solution. Existing utility-customer collaborations offer blueprints for similar programs that can be deployed in other regions to bring critical renewables with storage and clean firm resources onto the system, while also optimizing existing system capacity.”
Among other benefits, clean energy tariffs support economic development, local reliability, and grid modernization, especially when clean energy resources are sited near growing loads.
This analysis builds upon CEBA’s previous work on utility green tariffs, including studies released in 2020 and 2023. Today’s report examines programs and agreements allowing large customers to identify, fund, and support specific clean or clean firm resources — including advanced geothermal, nuclear, hydropower, long-duration storage, and renewables with storage.
The Corporate Energy Buyers Association (CEBA) is a business association that activates energy buyers and their partners to drive low-cost, reliable, carbon emissions-free global electricity systems. CEBA represents members with $40 trillion in market value, including energy customers of all sizes, suppliers, and service providers. Learn more at ceba.org and follow us on X and LinkedIn.