Charles Hua, PowerLines Founder and Executive Director, Named to TIME’s Annual TIME100 Next List of the 100 Leaders Shaping the Future

TIME has named Charles Hua, Founder and Executive Director of PowerLines, to the 2025 TIME100 Next list. An expansion of the TIME100 list of the most influential people in the world, TIME100 Next highlights 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future of business, entertainment, sports, politics, health, science and activism, and more. 

PowerLines is a national energy consumer advocacy nonprofit that aims to modernize the utility regulatory system for American energy consumers to lower utility bills and grow the economy.

“I am deeply honored to be included in this year’s TIME100 Next list among brilliant changemakers. I’m even prouder to share it alongside the tireless advocates that advance the necessary work of building a better energy future.” said Charles Hua. “This recognition is a testament to the urgency of PowerLines’ work to shine a bright light on the crisis of rising utility bills and build a movement that empowers consumers and communities across America to make their voices heard—and listened to.”

Rising utility bills is quickly becoming a national economic and political issue. Currently, 80 million Americans are struggling to pay their utility bills, while 4 in 5 Americans feel powerless over these costs. In the first half of 2025, utility rate increase requests totaled $29 billion, setting a record for any year.

As a result, national media outlets are covering this issue to an unprecedented degree, and PowerLines is playing a key role in informing this discussion. PowerLines has already shaped the conversation in The New York Times, Bloomberg, CBS News, NPR, Financial Times, TIME, Vox, The Daily Mail, MIT Technology Review, and Yahoo News.
The full list and related tributes appear in the October 13, 2025, issue, available on newsstands on Friday, October 3, and now at time.com/next.