Established in 2005, Consumer Energy Alliance has become the leading consumer advocate for families and businesses seeking sensible federal, state, and local energy and environmental policies that help ensure all Americans benefit from affordable, reliable, and environmentally responsible energy solutions.

CEA is a unique organization representing families, farmers, small businesses, distributors, transportation providers, manufacturers, academia, retirees, and every other energy consumer in the United States.

We are committed to fighting for ordinary Americans who rely on gasoline, diesel, and electricity every day to get to work, feed and clothe their families, and have a warm home in the winter and a cool one in the summer.

CEA tirelessly works on behalf of our members to encourage voters and elected officials in local communities, state capitals, and Washington, DC, to seek sensible, realistic, and nonpartisan solutions to meet our nation’s energy needs and environmental goals.

By advocating for sensible energy and environmental solutions, CEA and our members help ensure that people who need affordable and reliable energy the most can have it.

Our Mission

Our mission is to empower American families and businesses by providing a unified voice for local, state, and federal policies that ensure reliable, affordable, and environmentally responsible resources for consumers. With a network of almost 400 member companies and over 550,000 individuals nationwide, we advocate for an energy future that balances traditional and renewable resources, creating the optimal mix to meet the diverse needs of our nation’s families, businesses, environment, and economy. Recognizing that energy solutions vary by location, we champion using all available assets to support our growing energy demands and sustain our economic momentum.

Our Positions

CEA advocates for balanced energy policies that ensure energy choice without restrictions on any forms of energy or overly aggressive mandates favoring one energy solution over another. American families and businesses are best served by having access to all types of energy resources.

CEA is committed to ensuring that families—especially those with low or fixed incomes or who live paycheck to paycheck—and businesses trying to meet budgets and payrolls can access the energy they need when they need it and at prices that do not limit America’s opportunities.

Energy choice matters. Energy policies must ensure affordable, reliable, and environmentally responsible energy for all Americans.

Join Us

With misguided, short-sighted, and restrictive energy policies still being considered in some states and pushed by a few shrill activist organizations, we urge you to join our growing coalition and add your voice to other households and businesses nationwide who understand that our votes matter.

There is strength in numbers, and we will band together to ensure sensible energy and environmental solutions prevail, not policies certain to raise costs in perpetuity.

Affordable Energy

Young woman with little girl shopping for groceries in supermarketWe are all frustrated by the constantly increasing cost of groceries, clothing, and basic daily needs. What’s often overlooked is the impact diesel fuel prices have on inflation. Almost everything we purchase—from milk, eggs, and bread to clothing, household supplies, and more—is delivered by diesel truck. With high diesel prices, the price of literally everything increases. This hidden harm to families and businesses is that it robs us of our disposable income.

Uber eats delivery person carrying food to people who order by onlineFor families who drive to work or school, enjoy Sunday drives, or drive for family vacations, high gasoline prices add another hidden tax to our spending. Overall, the average family spends almost $1,200 more a year on gasoline than they did in 2021. And, for those among us living at or near the poverty level, $4-a-gallon gasoline often means making the hard choice between a gallon of gas to get to work or a gallon of milk for the family.

Unaffordable energy especially harms people from disadvantaged communities, communities of color, tribal communities, retirees, and others on fixed incomes. Like all essential items, like food, clothing, and shelter, energy is an essential necessity for every person. Unnecessarily increasing energy prices disproportionately affect the poorest and least advantaged among us.

Caregiver and a senior woman in a wheelchair stock photoCEA’s solution for this is what we define as “Energy Justice”: policies and actions that work to alleviate the extra cost burdens that higher energy prices have on these groups. This is the best way to focus on our shared goal of achieving social and economic equity in our energy system while remediating social, economic, and health burdens on those disproportionately harmed by unaffordable or unreliable energy. If we are to achieve the goals of fairness and affordability for everyone, we must recognize the impacts on all sides and deliver clean and affordable energy to all Americans.

To ensure that all Americans have access to affordable, reliable, and environmentally responsible energy, CEA fights for you in the town square, city halls, state houses, and the halls of Congress.

Reliable Energy

Unless we act now, energy policies implemented today will lead to more and greater frequency of electricity brownouts and blackouts in the next few years. Almost every electricity grid managing organization has issued dire warnings to state and federal political leaders that draconian energy policies, tiresome and lengthy litigation, and under-utilization of always-on energy resources, such as natural gas or nuclear, will create electricity supply shortfalls for many states and regions in the next five to seven years.

Unless something is done to rescind state laws mandating energy use requirements or restricting certain energy resources, as well as streamlining energy permitting and curtailing the ability of activists bent on stopping every form of energy development, then electricity shortages are inevitable in some states. This is especially true for families and businesses in the New England states, New York, California, Oregon, Washington, and a few other states.

Environmental Stewardship

We can and must have both energy development and environmental stewardship. We have seen how increasing U.S. energy supplies have simultaneously helped drive down consumer costs and lowered our emissions footprint more than any other nation in the world. It’s time to support U.S. energy in all forms to meet our climate expectations and build toward a net-zero future while maintaining our energy independence. We know the environment impacts our whole world, and we must recognize that U.S. energy and environmental leadership – and the progress we have already made – can and must accelerate global environmental improvement through our leadership and example.

Since its founding, Consumer Energy Alliance has strongly supported actions that thoughtfully advance our nation towards a cleaner, more environmentally responsible energy future. We believe that responsible policies should always consider the needs of consumers while leveraging and supporting the development of state-of-the-art technologies to improve our environmental stewardship, aiding in the continued reduction of all emissions – including smog-forming and greenhouse gas emissions.

CEA has and will always support rigorous environmental protection standards and regulations that work for all Americans, especially the millions of unemployed and underemployed and those on fixed incomes or living paycheck to paycheck. Access to energy and a cleaner environment should be a universal right. CEA supports all efforts to keep energy affordable and available to everyone, not just a few.