Investor-owned utilities charge materially more for residential electricity: in 2025 the average price was 17.8¢/kWh at investor-owned utilities versus 14.5¢ at public utilities and 14.1¢ at co-ops, a roughly 23% premium. Since 2020 investor-owned prices rose 34% while public and co-op prices rose about 19%, compared with overall inflation of 24%. Most of the divergence happened during the 2020-2023 energy price spike (investor-owned +25% vs nonprofits +11%); adjusted for inflation investor-owned prices are up 7.9% while public and co-op prices have fallen 4.3%. Co-op customers face the highest monthly bills ($159) because of heavier usage. Distribution across customers shows 67% of investor-owned homes paid 12-20¢/kWh and 11% paid 30¢ or more, while 61% of public utility homes paid under 14¢.
The pattern is broad but uneven: investor-owned prices rose faster than nonprofit counterparts in 38 of 48 states with both types, and a handful of utilities saw very large increases (examples include New York State Electric & Gas +97%, San Diego Gas & Electric +79%, Southern California Edison +73%, and PG&E +59%). The figures measure what homes actually paid per kWh and exclude federal and very small utilities; they do not assign causes, though one clear structural difference is that investor-owned companies earn shareholder returns while public utilities and co-ops do not.
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