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Investor-owned utilities raised U.S. home power prices 34% since 2020, Kadoa says
Kadoa's U.S. Energy Price Monitor, using EIA Form 861 data, says investor-owned utilities raised average residential prices 34% from 2020 to 2025, versus 19% at public utilities and co-ops, against 24% inflation.
- kadoa.com is now reporting this
- New headline Was: “Investor-owned utilities charge 23% more for electricity than public providers”
- Our desk filed its story
Kadoa's U.S. Energy Price Monitor said investor-owned electric utilities raised average U.S. residential prices 34% from 2020 to 2025, compared with 19% at public utilities and cooperatives, while inflation over the same span was 24%1.
The analysis uses the Energy Information Administration's annual Form 861 survey of utilities and covers homes that buy both supply and delivery from the same utility1. Kadoa said public utilities and co-ops serve about one in four U.S. homes and investor-owned utilities serve the rest1.
Kadoa said investor-owned prices rose faster than nonprofit prices in 38 of 48 states that have both types of provider1. Weighted by the same states, it put the increases at 36% versus 20%1.
The gap is recent, the site said: from 2015 to 2020, prices rose 2.3% at investor-owned utilities and 3.4% at public utilities and co-ops, then 25% versus 11% from 2020 to 2023 through the 2022 energy-price spike1. Since 2023, both groups rose about 7%, so the gap has not closed, it said1.
In 2020, homes paid about $111 a month at investor-owned utilities and $112 at public utilities, Kadoa said; in 2025 those figures were $146 and $1301. Co-op homes paid $159, which Kadoa attributed to higher use: 1,129 kilowatt-hours a month versus 819 at investor-owned utilities1. After inflation, it said investor-owned prices rose 7.9% while public and co-op prices fell 4.3%1.
Among large utilities serving 250,000 or more homes, Kadoa listed the biggest 2020-2025 residential price increases at New York State Electric & Gas (97%), San Diego Gas & Electric (79%) and Potomac Electric Power in the District of Columbia (76%)1.
Kadoa noted that in states with retail choice, many homes buy power from a competitive supplier and pay the utility only for delivery; those customers are not in the investor-owned supply-and-delivery figures1. Counting them too, it said prices for homes on investor-owned wires rose 36%1. Independent confirmation of Kadoa's calculations was not in the assignment, and utilities and regulators were not quoted1.