Andrew Campbell and Severin Borenstein on Becerra’s “Power Hour” Proposal

Becerra’s Free Power Happy Hour

August 12, 2026

Politico

Andrew Campbell, Energy Institute Executive Director, and Severin Borenstein, Energy Institute Faculty Director highlight the potential of Becerra’s “Power Hour” proposal, noting that while providing low-income families with two free hours of electricity is not as unrealistic as it sounds given that excess electricity can sometimes be effectively free on the grid, the infrastructure and delivery costs would still need to be covered, and framing the proposal as a solution to the broader affordability crisis would be an over interpretation.

“Andrew Campbell, executive director of the UC Berkeley Energy Institute at Haas, was also intrigued by the concept. ‘It’s not a crazy idea,’ he said. ‘There’s free electricity on the grid at certain times, and having a mechanism to share that with consumers makes sense.'”

“Haas Faculty Director Severin Borenstein, who serves on the state grid manager’s board of governors, warns that ‘interpreting this as a solution to the affordability crisis in itself would be overinterpreting it.'”