投資家所有の公益事業者は公営事業者よりも電力料金を23%高く請求

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.

ViewChange since 2020Cents per kWhTabular dataDownload

Investor-ownedPublicCo-opInflation

Investor-ownedPublicCo-op

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.

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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.

ViewChartTabular data

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

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

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Co-op 52% paid under 14 cents.

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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.

ViewChartTabular data

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1. Maine
2. Washington
3. California
4. New Jersey
5. New York
6. Ohio
7. Delaware
8. Oregon
9. Oklahoma
10. Illinois
11. Pennsylvania
12. Wyoming
13. Hawaii
14. Maryland
15. Florida
16. Colorado
17. North Carolina
18. Indiana
19. Georgia
20. Mississippi
21. Wisconsin
22. Rhode Island
23. Virginia
24. Montana
25. Connecticut
26. Alabama
27. Minnesota
28. Texas
29. Arizona
30. Utah
31. North Dakota
32. New Mexico
33. Alaska
34. New Hampshire
35. Tennessee
36. Nevada
37. South Carolina
38. Massachusetts
39. Nonprofit prices rose as fast or faster in these 10
40. South Dakota
41. Michigan
42. Louisiana
43. Missouri
44. Idaho
45. Kansas
46. Vermont
47. Arkansas
48. Iowa
49. Kentucky

Showing 15 of 48

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

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.

ViewChartTabular data

Inflation +24%

1. New York State Electric & Gas, NY+97%
2. San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), CA+79%
3. Potomac Electric Power, DC+76%
4. Rochester Gas & Electric, NY+75%
5. Southern California Edison (SCE), CA+73%
6. Tampa Electric, FL+72%
7. Ameren Illinois, IL+72%
8. Central Maine Power, ME+69%
9. Baltimore Gas & Electric, MD+67%
10. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), CA+59%
11. Appalachian Power (AEP), VA+59%
12. Puget Sound Energy, WA+57%
13. National Grid (Niagara Mohawk), NY+57%
14. Duke Energy Ohio, OH+52%
15. Portland General Electric, OR+50%
16. AEP Ohio, OH+50%
17. PSO (AEP), OK+50%
18. Potomac Electric Power, MD+49%
19. Delmarva Power, DE+48%
20. Duquesne Light, PA+46%

Showing 20 of 99

Showing 15 of 99

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

Outage minutes a year by utility owner

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

ViewChartTabular data

Investor-ownedPublicCo-op

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

About the data

• Public power is common where electricity is cheap, so we also compared utilities within each state. Investor-owned utilities charged more than public utilities and co-ops in 39 of 48 states, and their prices rose faster in 38.
• Public utilities pay no income tax, borrow tax-free and often buy cheap federal hydropower. That explains part of the price gap, but not why it widened after 2020.
• 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.