Investor-owned utilities charge 23% more for electricity than public providers

Investor-owned utilities charge 23% more for electricity than public ones: Electricity Prices by Utility Owner | US Energy Price Monitor

Investor-owned utilities charge 23% more for electricity than public ones

In 2025 , homes paid 17.8¢ a kilowatt-hour at investor-owned utilities, 14.5¢ at public utilities and 14.1¢ at co-ops . Since 2020 , investor-owned prices rose 34% and public ones 19% , against 24% inflation.

Average home price by utility owner

Change since 2020 against inflation, or cents per kilowatt-hour since 2015.

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Change since 2020

Cents per kWh

Tabular data

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• Change since 2020 Change

• Cents per kWh Cents

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Investor-owned

Public

Co-op

Inflation

Year

Inflation since 2020

Investor-owned, monthly bill

Public, monthly bill

Co-op, monthly bill

2025

17.8¢

+34%

14.5¢

+19%

14.1¢

+24%

$146

$130

$159

2024

16.9¢

+28%

13.9¢

+14%

13.5¢

+21%

$137

$125

$149

2023

16.6¢

+25%

13.4¢

+10%

13.2¢

+12%

+18%

$133

$120

$145

2022

15.4¢

+17%

13.3¢

+9.4%

13.1¢

+11%

+13%

$124

$150

2021

+5.1%

12.4¢

+1.8%

12.1¢

+2.2%

+4.7%

$116

$113

$136

2020

12.2¢

11.8¢

–

$111

$112

2019

12.0¢

11.9¢

$109

2018

$139

2017

$106

2016

12.9¢

11.6¢

$107

$131

2015

$108

Every year since 2015 : home revenue, kWh sold, homes, price and bill by utility owner, for the US and each state, as a gzipped CSV.

Download CSV (gzip)

Source: EIA annual survey of utilities (Form 861), homes buying supply and delivery from their utility ; BLS CPI .

Home prices in 2025

Share of homes by their utility's average price per kilowatt-hour, in 2-cent bands.

Chart

• Chart

Investor-owned 67% of homes paid 12 to 20 cents, and 11% paid 30 cents or more.

0

%

10

20

30

40

50

¢

+

Public 61% paid under 14 cents. The bump at the high end is LADWP and Long Island Power Authority, 13% of public homes.

Co-op 52% paid under 14 cents.

Price a kWh

Under 10¢

0.1%

3.9%

1.2%

10 to 12¢

3.8%

13.2%

10.4%

12 to 14¢

13.9%

43.8%

40.0%

14 to 16¢

20.3%

12.7%

30.8%

16 to 18¢

20.0%

3.2%

11.7%

18 to 20¢

12.4%

6.5%

2.4%

20 to 22¢

9.1%

1.5%

1.0%

22 to 24¢

2.7%

0.9%

0.8%

24 to 26¢

3.4%

0.6%

26 to 28¢

1.3%

13.3%

0.0%

28 to 30¢

1.6%

30¢ or more

11.4%

0.5%

Source: EIA annual survey of utilities (Form 861), homes buying supply and delivery from their utility .

Price change by state, 2020 to 2025

States sorted by how far investor-owned prices pulled ahead of nonprofit (public and co-op) prices. The gap is widest at the top.

60

• Maine

• Washington

• California

• New Jersey

• New York

• Ohio

• Delaware

• Oregon

• Oklahoma

• Illinois

• Pennsylvania

• Wyoming

• Hawaii

• Maryland

• Florida

• Colorado

• North Carolina

• Indiana

• Georgia

• Mississippi

• Wisconsin

• Rhode Island

• Virginia

• Montana

• Connecticut

• Alabama

• Minnesota

• Texas

• Arizona

• Utah

• North Dakota

• New Mexico

• Alaska

• New Hampshire

• Tennessee

• Nevada

• South Carolina

• Massachusetts

• Nonprofit prices rose as fast or faster in these 10

• South Dakota

• Michigan

• Louisiana

• Missouri

• Idaho

• Kansas

• Vermont

• Arkansas

• Iowa

• Kentucky

State

▲

↕

Nonprofit

Investor-owned, 2025

Nonprofit, 2025

Alabama

+33%

+22%

17.9¢

Alaska

+20%

+15%

26.5¢

Arizona

+29%

14.0¢

Arkansas

+26%

12.6¢

California

+62%

33.9¢

22.7¢

Colorado

+37%

16.1¢

15.3¢

Connecticut

+23%

30.0¢

19.5¢

Delaware

+48%

18.2¢

14.7¢

Florida

+40%

15.7¢

13.8¢

Georgia

+31%

16.3¢

Hawaii

41.7¢

38.4¢

Idaho

11.3¢

Illinois

+39%

17.3¢

15.5¢

Indiana

+30%

Iowa

+7.3%

13.6¢

Show all 48 states

Showing

15

of

48

Price gap after accounting for location

Average home price per kilowatt-hour in 2025. Hydro states get the most power from dams: WA, VT, ID, OR, MT, AK and SD.

Co-ops

12¢

14¢

16¢

18¢

20¢

22¢

Gap

• Public, all states 14.5¢ 17.8¢ +23%

• Public, no hydro states 14.9¢ 17.9¢ +20%

• Public and co-ops, same state 15.7¢ 18.5¢ +17%

• Co-ops, most rural 14.1¢ 17.8¢ +26%

Investor-owned against

Compared with

Public, all states

+22.7%

Public, no hydro states

14.9¢

+19.8%

Public and co-ops, same state

18.5¢

+17.3%

Co-ops, most rural

+26.2%

Largest utilities, 2020 to 2025

Change in the average home price at utilities with 250,000 or more homes: investor-owned , public and co-op .

• New York State Electric & Gas, NY +97%

• San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), CA +79%

• Potomac Electric Power, DC +76%

• Rochester Gas & Electric, NY +75%

• Southern California Edison (SCE), CA +73%

• Tampa Electric, FL +72%

• Ameren Illinois, IL +72%

• Central Maine Power, ME +69%

• Baltimore Gas & Electric, MD +67%

• Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), CA +59%

• Appalachian Power (AEP), VA +59%

• Puget Sound Energy, WA +57%

• National Grid (Niagara Mohawk), NY +57%

• Duke Energy Ohio, OH +52%

• Portland General Electric, OR +50%

• AEP Ohio, OH +50%

• PSO (AEP), OK +50%

• Potomac Electric Power, MD +49%

• Delmarva Power, DE +48%

• Duquesne Light, PA +46%

Show all 99 utilities

99

Utility

Owner

Change

▼

New York State Electric & Gas

NY

11.5¢

22.6¢

+97%

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)

CA

25.5¢

45.8¢

+79%

Potomac Electric Power

DC

20.8¢

+76%

Rochester Gas & Electric

22.0¢

+75%

Southern California Edison (SCE)

31.5¢

+73%

Tampa Electric

FL

10.1¢

+72%

Ameren Illinois

IL

9.7¢

16.7¢

Central Maine Power

ME

16.2¢

27.4¢

+69%

Baltimore Gas & Electric

MD

20.2¢

+67%

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)

23.6¢

37.5¢

+59%

Appalachian Power (AEP)

VA

10.8¢

17.2¢

Puget Sound Energy

WA

17.0¢

+57%

National Grid (Niagara Mohawk)

19.9¢

Duke Energy Ohio

OH

11.0¢

16.8¢

+52%

Portland General Electric

OR

12.5¢

18.8¢

+50%

Outage minutes a year by utility owner

Minutes without power for the average home, not counting major storms.

120 min

80 min

166 min

123 min

84 min

188 min

116 min

85 min

167 min

127 min

83 min

161 min

121 min

164 min

76 min

150 min

73 min

153 min

119 min

71 min

152 min

114 min

78 min

69 min

149 min

68 min

Source: EIA annual survey of utilities (Form 861), reliability.

About the data

• Public power is common in cities and near federal dams, where power is cheap, and public utilities pay no income tax and borrow tax-free. That explains some of the gap, not why it grew.

• Most of the gap opened from 2020 to 2023 , during the energy price spike: 25% at investor-owned utilities, 11% at public utilities and co-ops. Before and since, both rose at about the same pace.

• After inflation, investor-owned prices rose 7.9% . Public and co-op prices fell 4.3% .

• Co-op homes have the highest bills, $159 a month in 2025 , because they use the most power.

• Homes that buy power from a retail supplier aren't in the investor-owned figures. Counting them, prices on investor-owned lines rose 36% .

• Price is what homes paid divided by the kilowatt-hours they used, from EIA's yearly survey of utilities. Federal utilities and the smallest ones are left out.

• The data shows what homes paid, not why. Investor-owned utilities earn a return for shareholders on what they build. Public utilities and co-ops have no shareholders. See the rate cases for increases utilities are asking for now.