US EditionFind Out How Much of Your Electricity Bill Goes to Utility Investors: New Report
Energy and Policy Institute reports utilities earned an average 12.8% profit margin from 2021 to 2024 while 1 in 6 U.S. households fell behind on utility bills.
- On Thursday, the Energy and Policy Institute reported investor-owned electric utilities earned approximately $186 billion in profit between 2021 and 2024, with early 2025 filings showing profits rising to 15 cents per dollar collected.
- State-Regulated rate-setting drives utility profits, since most utilities must seek state approval for rate changes through appointed or elected boards that set price structures affecting returns on equity and infrastructure investments.
- EPI's analysis found an average 12.8% profit margin from 2021–2024, while industry ROE averaged 9.7% in 2024. Top utilities included MidAmerican Energy at 27.22% and Florida Power & Light at 23.51%.
- About 1 in 6 U.S. households fell behind on utility bills, with Americans collectively owing $25 billion by end-2025. State lawmakers increasingly scrutinize prices while the Edison Electric Institute criticized EPI's methodology as analytically weak.
- Southeastern utilities reported notably higher margins, with Florida Power & Light making around 27% in 2025 after a nearly $7 billion rate hike approval. Most industries operate on single-digit margins, making utility returns unusually high.
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14 Articles
Find out how much of your electricity bill goes to utility investors: New report
Utility companies are earning an average of 13 cents in profit for every dollar Americans spend on Utility companies are earning an average of 13 cents in profit for every dollar Americans spend on electricity — a higher margin than most businesses. That’s according to a new report released Thursday by the nonprofit watchdog Energy and Policy Institute (EPI), which argues the utility industry needs to be reformed. In the report “Paying for Thei…
New report shows how much of your electric bill goes towards utility company's profits
A new report from watchdog group Energy and Policy Institute shows just how much investor-owned utility companies profit from your electric bill. EPI analyzed financial data from 110 investor-owned operating electric utilities nationwide between 2021 and 2024, and 79 from 2025. Daniel Tait is the research and communications director at the Energy Policy Institute. “If you’re a customer paying about 200 dollars a month for electricity, about th…
Paying for Their Profits: How Ratepayers Foot the Bill for Soaring Utility Profits
As consumers face persistently high and rising energy costs and financial stress, a substantial share of what they pay for electricity is flowing to investors as profit. The post Paying for Their Profits: How Ratepayers Foot the Bill for Soaring Utility Profits appeared first on Energy and Policy Institute.
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