Blackouts are becoming more frequent as aging infrastructure and the growing share of intermittent energy sources, spurred by subsidies and mandates, strain the electric grid.

That’s why Base Power, a Texas-based startup, is betting big on a new model: affordable home battery systems that reduce electricity costs and keep the lights on during outages. It’s not just a tech upgrade. It’s a vision for energy independence that begins at home.

Base Power’s system provides backup power during outages, covering about 97% of common disruptions. It also helps customers save money, since the battery charges during less-expensive off-peak hours.

“We’re able to lower your electricity bill by effectively making your home run on 4 a.m. power versus 6 p.m. power,” said Base cofounder and CEO Zach Dell. “And when the grid goes out, you have that battery to keep your home up and running.”

Homeowners pay a flat installation fee, plus a monthly membership fee and energy bill. Solar panels are optional.

The company handles everything from battery design and installation to ongoing maintenance and support. It’s currently operating in deregulated parts of Texas, including Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area, but has plans for massive expansion.

A company culture built around shared ideas

Every weekday at noon, all the Austin office employees’ calendars display the same recurring invite. It’s not a daily status meeting or project review. Instead, it’s for “Sacred Lunchtime,” a shared meal provided by the company’s founders.

Attendance isn’t required, but most people join in. “We go to the back of the office and have healthy, delicious catering every day,” said Dell.

Between bites, team members share ideas, observations, and insights. “Some of the best conversations happen around the lunch table,” he added.

That daily ritual reinforces a core philosophy shared by Dell and cofounder and COO Justin Lopas: Energy ideas and innovations can be discovered through openness, inclusion, and collective problem-solving.

“We want to make sure everyone has the ability to share ideas,” Lopas said.

“We always go with the best idea no matter where it comes from,” added Dell, noting that those insights can come from a customer, intern, field electrician, or even someone’s grandmother. “We approach problems with an open mind. We just want the best solutions.”

The founders are applying those insights to solve a global challenge: how to provide low-cost energy that enables individuals, communities — and eventually countries across the world — to stay safe, connected, and productive.

They believe that accessible, reliable energy can serve as the foundation for economic growth, technological progress, and community well-being.

 “We want to promote human prosperity through energy abundance,” Dell said.

Solving the crisis of an outdated grid, one home at a time

While energy debates often center on generation — solar, wind, gas, nuclear — delivery tends to get overlooked.

For families, this is not just inconvenient. It could also be dangerous.

Most of America’s electric grid infrastructure was built decades ago and is increasingly unreliable, the founders said. Storms, car accidents, and old transformers blowing out can all affect power. Something as small as a squirrel chewing through a wire can also knock out energy. That’s why backups are needed.

“We think that making power more affordable and more reliable is the best thing we can do,” said Dell.

How two founders turned a shared vision into a scalable solution

Dell and Lopas first met when Dell visited a company where Lopas served as head of manufacturing. They hit it off and began to have deeper conversations that led to a business partnership.

“We had very complementary skill sets, along with shared interests and ambitions,” said Lopas.

Dell added: “We’re both people who are inspired to use technology to solve big, hard problems in the world.”

Soon, they began testing prototypes and onboarding their initial customers. One memorable evening, an early customer texted to say that while the power went out in his neighborhood, he hadn’t noticed and simply continued to watch a college football game on his TV.

“We were all in the office that night, and we just started cheering,” Dell said.

That moment was important for the Base Power team. The use of its battery service goes well beyond keeping a TV on, however. Reliable backup power means a refrigerator full of groceries won’t spoil during an outage. It allows older adults to maintain their air conditioning during heat waves. At scale, it can help individuals, communities, and even nations remain productive and competitive.

Statistics show that the lower the cost of electricity, the higher the GDP, the founders said. That’s because energy fuels everything from agriculture to AI innovations.

For instance, energy is required to grow crops, transport them to grocery stores, and maintain them at the ideal temperature within the stores. Multiply that across countless industries, and the positive effect is exponential.

“Energy is the fundamental building block on top of which basically every good and service is produced,” said Dell, citing everything from produce to laptops, TVs, and mobile phones.

“Our view is that by driving the cost of electricity down, we can enable technological progress and make the world better,” he added.

At the same time, reliable energy can improve the lives of individuals, families, and communities.

“Just knowing that your refrigerator will stay powered, your lights will stay on, you won’t lose internet, and the AC is going to keep running gives people real peace of mind,” he said.

Their next steps include deploying more batteries at a faster and cheaper rate than anyone else. And ultimately, “we have the ambition to build the largest and most important power company on the planet,” Dell said. “We believe we can build a large, impactful business and drive humanity forward.”

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