Meet the 2026 Home Electrification Challenge Winners
EL CERRITO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / April 29, 2026 / On the heels of San Francisco Climate Week, Net Impact, in collaboration with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), announced the winning teams of the 2026 Home Electrification Challenge. This statewide competition invited students from colleges and universities across California to design innovative customer engagement strategies that accelerate home and neighborhood-level electrification across PG&E's diverse customer base. As PG&E works toward a sustainable energy future, the company sought innovative approaches to help customers understand the benefits of electrification and inspire electrified homeowners to become active advocates within their communities.
After an earlier round of competitions at individual schools, eight finalist teams with more than 20 students came to PG&E's Oakland Headquarters to present their ideas to PG&E leaders for a chance to win a cash prize. These students and other attendees also enjoyed professional networking with PG&E sustainability and customer electrification teams, career-oriented content, and a tour of PG&E's Net-Zero Climate Command Center.
Meet the 2026 Home Electrification Challenge Winners
Two winning teams were selected and awarded a grand prize of $1,000 each:
University of California, Berkeley, represented by Vish Goel, Vedatman Duhoo, Vit Do, and Harper Young.
University of California, Los Angeles, represented by Angela Hu, Angel Wang, and Zitong Wang.
"Helping our customers electrify their homes at the pace and scale we need is a big sustainability challenge - and big challenges require innovative thinking and collaborative approaches. This competition was an exciting way to tap into the creative ideas of bright-minded students to help shape our strategy. Special thanks to our partners at Net Impact for helping to bring this impactful initiative to life," reflected Chris Benjamin, Senior Director of Corporate Sustainability at PG&E.
"We're honored to continue our multi-year relationship with PG&E," said Net Impact CEO, Karen Johns. "This program was just the latest way that our organizations have collaborated to prepare business trained students for impactful careers. The topic of home electrification couldn't be more timely or important. We congratulate the winning teams, as well as all of the finalist teams who participated across California."
"The Net Impact x PG&E Case Competition was both challenging and inspiring," Angela Hu, team member from the UCLA winning team, reflected. "Working on such a relevant issue as climate change, our team had a lot of fun developing creative solutions around household electrification. It was especially exciting to work on something that PG&E is actively tackling right now, rather than a past case, and hearing directly from the PG&E team working on these projects gave us a much clearer sense of how these ideas actually get implemented. The experience really pushed us to grow as a team and think more confidently about building practical solutions to climate challenges."
To learn more about PG&E's home electrification efforts, visit their website here.
About Net Impact
Net Impact is one of the largest and oldest global member organizations focused on training business students for impactful careers and impactful lives. Net Impact engages over 50,000 students and professionals annually. With almost 300 chapters in over 30 states and 40 countries, members are pursuing impactful careers and impactful lives across diverse industries, including business, sustainability, and social impact fields. Visit www.netimpact.org.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than sixteen million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit pge.com and pge.com/news.
CONTACT:
Net Impact
Hilary Manzo, Associate Director of Programs
Email: hmanzo@netimpact.org
PG&E
Paul Doherty, Manager, Clean Energy & Innovation Communications
Email: paul.doherty@pge.com
Find more stories and multimedia from Net Impact at 3blmedia.com.
Contact Info:
Spokesperson: Net Impact
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SOURCE: Net Impact
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/business-and-professional-services/net-impact-and-pgande-announce-winners-of-the-2026-home-electrif-1162355
