Home battery installations fell 27 percent after the federal credit ended. Commercial installations did not, because they are paid for by demand charges.
Utilities asked for a record $18 billion in rate hikes in 2025 to toughen the grid, and regulators approve about 64% of requests. Why rate cases now decide a building's power cost for years.
Costco runs several facilities entirely off the grid on solar and batteries, skipping demand charges and interconnection delays. The playbook other commercial owners can follow, at any size.