Across the United States, energy rates continue to climb and contribute to energy inequities. Since 2021, the average residential electricity bill increased by $22 per month, adding up to an additional $264 per year, with more price hikes projected through 2030. The rise is largely driven by inflation, aging grid infrastructure and growing electricity demand from data centers.  A recent analysis by the Center for American Progress found that nearly 60 utilities have either raised or are proposing to raise electric and gas rates by a combined $41.9 billion — impacts that could reach over 80 million customers.

Electricity rate hikes disproportionately impact low-income households. According to the 2024 Policy Brief on City Energy Burdens by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), one in four low-income households spends more than 15% of their income on energy, far exceeding the 6% threshold that indicates high burden. Black, Latino, Indigenous and immigrant households are disproportionately represented among these families, reflecting the legacy of discriminatory housing policies, inefficient housing stock and limited access to energy efficiency upgrades. The same ACEEE analysis found that nearly 77 million households, or one in every two households, have had to reduce or forego essentials like medicine or food at least once or twice to pay utility bills. 

While low-income communities already face the greatest risk of climate-related impacts such as urban heat, extreme weather events and pollution, they are also being excluded from the decisions that offer potential solutions to the energy affordability crisis, such as clean energy.

Clean energy can help improve affordability by directly reducing households’ monthly utility bills and providing long-term price stability. While installing solar panels often requires high upfront costs that put it out of reach for historically disadvantaged or low-income households, once the system is installed, it provides families with a cheaper, more reliable and independent energy supply.

Subscriber-based community solar can also offer similar benefits but with even lower commitment that allows renters to participate. Low- to moderate-income (LMI) solar programs provide key financial support mechanisms, such as grants, rebates, on-bill financing, third-party ownership models and community solar options, that eliminate or reduce upfront payments. By covering or deferring these initial expenses, LMI solar programs provide a pathway for households to reap the long-term benefits of clean energy.

To avoid unintended obstacles to program uptake and address systemic barriers, successful LMI solar programs are designed together with the communities they aim to serve. Community-based organizations (CBOs) can be a key partner in this process, ensuring that program details such as financing options, outreach and program administration meet the needs of communities as well as thoroughly address the energy burden crisis and expand reliable, affordable and accessible clean energy.                       

The Case for CBO Leadership

Locally formed and staffed by residents of nearby communities, CBOs can take many forms; their missions typically center around religion, food, health care, education, housing, social services and/or community development. Given this local focus, CBOs have a deep understanding of local circumstances that allows them to act as trusted community liaisons: advocating for the community’s specific needs, educating residents on various issues, raising awareness about available resources and ensuring that community voices are heard through town halls, door-to-door outreach and focus groups.

Throughout May and June, WRI met with 10 environmental and equity-focused CBOs from across the United States to better understand their role in the community and their involvement in programmatic decisions for LMI-focused solar energy programs. From those conversations, we determined that many CBOs possess three key characteristics which make them uniquely qualified to not just champion or facilitate LMI solar programs, but also to inform and design them.

First, they are deeply trusted in the communities that they serve — their people and work are well-known among community members. Second, they are accessible; they routinely engage with the community in a capacity that makes them approachable and reliable. Lastly, they have a deep understanding of the local context, derived from their own belonging and familiarity with the community that they serve.

Based on these conversations, plus feedback from a WRI-hosted webinar on CBO-led clean energy programs, and an analysis of LMI-focused solar program case studies, the team identified four persistent barriers that CBOs described as limiting solar adoption by LMI households:

  1. Homes need repairs first, such as roof repairs or replacements and electrical upgrades.
  2. For residential rooftop solar, even with the few remaining available financial incentives, installation costs are still too high.
  3. Program requirements or applications are complex and difficult for residents to navigate.
  4. There is a disconnect with or distrust of solar developers due to occasional predatory practices and deceptive actors.

How CBOs Can Plug in Now

How can CBOs solve these barriers by using their unique perspective to serve as a bridge between communities and solar programs? WRI identified seven strategies that CBOs can utilize to promote successful design and implementation of LMI-focused solar energy programs. These strategies range in both levels of effort required and approach, so CBOs of all sizes and capacities can help advance energy equity in their communities.

1. Amplify success stories and testimonials to build trust.

Solar implementation can have a “ripple effect” thanks to peer modeling. When one neighbor successfully installs solar panels, others are more likely to follow. CBOs can amplify local success stories and highlight the benefits of solar, building trust and increasing community interest in the technology. 

2. Raise community awareness of existing solar programs.

CBOs are often more trusted messengers than government staff when it comes to community programming. They can provide resources and materials on existing solar programs and ensure that all communities have access to the cost-saving benefits of renewable energy.

3. Help co-design programs by tailoring solutions to overcome local barriers.

CBOs can engage with grant recipients and city sustainability teams to make sure that programs center community priorities and are accessible, attractive and relevant for the communities that they support.

4. Identify workforce development programs and connect with community members.

A strong local workforce helps successfully scale rooftop and community solar projects. CBOs can do more than support the design and facilitation of training programs; more importantly, they can also leverage established relationships to ensure residents can access career pathways as the clean energy economy evolves.

5. Help residents navigate and enroll in various energy assistance programs.

Low-income solar programs can require extensive paperwork to apply — including income verification and access to past electricity bills — that serve as a barrier to participation. CBOs can help streamline this process by providing checklists on what is needed to sign up, as well as by holding in-person Q&A events that work to demystify the application process.

6. Join community task forces, working groups and/or advisory committees to discuss barriers and solutions to low-income solar.

Because CBOs are often a trusted entity with whom community members can voice concerns and develop solutions, they often have a unique and holistic understanding of the barriers to low-income solar adoption. They can use this knowledge to develop solutions in key community forums, such as task forces, working groups and/or advisory committees.

7. Vet solar installers and developers to streamline collaboration and build trust with program participants.

Many low-income households may hesitate to adopt solar due to unfamiliarity with and distrust of installers and developers. CBOs can play a critical role in protecting residents from deceptive practices in a variety of ways. By vetting solar vendors and contractors, fostering direct engagement and guiding investors on equitable engagement strategies, CBOs can foster trust between installers and developers and community members. Partnering with government-led group procurement can also help provide assurance to program participants that the contractors are trusted.

These strategies aim to expand opportunities for CBO involvement in energy equity and LMI solar initiatives. However, many CBOs are already active in solar program design and implementation; across the country, numerous organizations have successfully advanced rooftop solar adoption among LMI households.

Replicable Pathways: Templates for Community-Driven Solar Success

Georgia Interfaith Power & Light (GIPL)

GIPL supports faith communities in adopting solar energy through its Congregational Solar Program (CSP), which has been active since 2018. GIPL assists houses of worship by serving as a liaison between congregations, vetted installers and utilities to streamline effective projects. The CSP facilitates solar feasibility studies, reviews proposals with congregations and supports decision-making around financing options — including if and how to utilize power purchase agreements, grants, tax incentives such as direct pay (authorized through the Inflation Reduction Act) and GIPL’s own solar loan fund.

Through education, storytelling and media outreach, GIPL raises awareness and inspires other congregations to follow suit. It provides materials such as one-pagers, social media graphics and case studies to build trust and demonstrate the real impact of solar savings. Their approach aims to create a ripple effect: enabling faith communities to become solar adopters, reinvesting some of that savings into local needs and inspiring broader community transformation.

So far, GIPL has installed 620 kilowatts across 25 projects, offsetting 3,541 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. GIPL is proving that CBOs are not peripheral to clean energy implementation but rather are essential to building a just solar future.

When asked what advice GIPL would give to other CBOs looking to engage with program administrators and local governments around clean energy, Hannah Shultz, GIPL’s program director, emphasized the need for resource planning and partnership development, specifically establishing relationships with the program administrator, as GIPL did with Georgia BRIGHT, and connecting with pro-bono organizations, such as Lawyers for Good Government. This external support and technical resources were key in establishing and expanding GIPL’s solar assistance program. Many other participants in the June 2025 webinar agreed, with 70% of respondents asserting they needed more one-on-one coaching, formal guidance and toolkits to implement the proposed strategies.

Washington, D.C.’s Solar for All Program 

In administering Washington, D.C.’s Solar for All program since 2016, the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment collaborated closely with CBOs to ensure program success. The locally run program was enabled and funded through the Renewable Portfolio Standard of 2016 and served as a model for the 2022 national program. At the program’s outset, CBOs assisted in generating support and community buy-in for the program, as communities were justifiably hesitant to subscribe to a program that seemed too good to be true. Key supporting activities included writing letters of support for the Solar for All program, which were used to recruit new subscribers, and meeting with community members to share program details through trusted messengers. Throughout the program, CBOs served as crucial connectors between the program administrator and communities to ensure fair treatment of subscribers and achievement of program goals.

Michigan's Solar for All Program

Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy was one of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Solar for All grant awardees which included CBOs as integral in producing an inclusive program that reflected community priorities in its design and implementation. The MI Solar for All program also highlighted the various roles that CBOs played in implementing LMI solar programs. For community solar projects, CBOs may be site hosts and design projects to benefit their communities, such as resilience hubs. Alternatively, CBOs could assist in identifying site hosts for community solar projects. For residential rooftop solar projects, CBOs can play a critical role in engaging community members, raising awareness of the program and advising on program application.

The MI Solar for All program envisioned its partner CBOs as a key instrument for educating community members about energy efficiency, enabling upgrades, solar and energy storage, as well as how such technologies are helpful in lowering household electricity bills. To build this out, it organized a focus group of CBOs to understand the communities they intend to serve, tailor engagement strategies, address barriers to previous program participation and discuss how best to on-board CBOs as formal, compensated partners.

Although the MI Solar for All program, which provided free low-cost solar for LMI residents in all 50 states, was formally canceled by the EPA in August 2025, ongoing legal challenges mean its future remains uncertain. City and state leaders, however, can take lessons from the program’s approach.

Conclusion

Solar deployment is a critical part of the solution to rising energy costs, and the path to equitable and affordable clean energy begins at the community level. CBOs bring lived experience, cultural understanding and respect, and deep local trust that cannot be replicated by outside actors. When included as true partners, CBOs can transform solar programs from technical interventions into community-driven solutions that meet families and households' energy needs. Without their leadership, many programs risk reinforcing existing energy inequities instead of dismantling them.

Policymakers, utilities and program administrators must commit resources, decision-making power and long-term partnerships to ensure CBOs are not only consulted but positioned as co-leaders in clean energy deployment. Funders and advocates can accelerate progress by investing in CBO capacity, offering technical support, and amplifying their success stories to catalyze replication nationwide. Most importantly, communities must be empowered to shape the clean energy future on their own terms.

To thoroughly address energy insecurity and ensure that the benefits of solar reach those who need them most, we must center equity, trust and community leadership at every stage. The question is not whether community leaders should lead, but how we can remove barriers to their participation and provide clearer entry points into program design, ultimately ensuring all communities will experience the benefits from the clean energy transition.