Investor-owned, municipal and cooperative utilities: who serves you and what they charge
Cooperatives are below investor-owned prices in 30 of 41 states where both can be compared. The median municipal gap is -14% and the median cooperative gap -5%. Investor-owned utilities serve 69% of U.S. homes in this data; municipal 10%, cooperative 13%. Each gap compares average prices of customer groups inside one state. It is not what one household would save, and it does not say why prices differ.
Share served by investor-owned utilities
- 0% to 56%
- 56% to 71%
- 71% to 81%
- 81% to 93%
- 93% to 100%
Share of residential customers in EIA-861 2024 whose wires utility is investor-owned. Darker is higher: District of Columbia 100%, Nebraska 0%. The rest are municipal, cooperative and other public utilities and, in Texas, competitive suppliers. Click a state for its page.
Who serves U.S. homes: many small utilities, a few large ones
Of 3,061 utilities of the five main types, 174 are investor-owned (6%) and they serve 69% of residential customers. Cooperatives are 29% of utilities and serve 13%; municipal utilities are 60% and serve 10%. Customer counts cover utilities that report residential detail; the many small utilities that file the short EIA form add utilities to the count but not to the customer column.
| Utility type | Utilities listed | Share of utilities | Residential customers | Share of customers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investor-owned | 174 | 6% | 95,684,660 | 68.7% |
| Municipal | 1,823 | 60% | 13,234,159 | 9.5% |
| Cooperative | 895 | 29% | 18,367,550 | 13.2% |
| Political subdivision | 139 | 5% | 3,719,263 | 2.7% |
| State and federal | 30 | 1% | 1,295,089 | 0.9% |
All states in one table
| Alabama | 57.0 | 21.3 | 21.7 | 0.0 | 16.8 | 11.9 | 14.5 | -29 | -14 | 0 | 97 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 7.7 | 2.4 | 89.9 | 0.0 | 16.3 | not shown | 25.8 | not shown | +58 | 0 | 92 |
| Arizona | 57.0 | 0.5 | 6.0 | 36.5 | 16.3 | not shown | 13.0 | not shown | -20 | 0 | 99 |
| Arkansas | 53.7 | 12.4 | 33.9 | 0.0 | 12.7 | 9.5 | 12.7 | -25 | +0 | 0 | 98 |
| California | 78.6 | 14.7 | 0.0 | 6.6 | 35.1 | 23.0 | not shown | -35 | not shown | 38 | 99 |
| Colorado | 58.4 | 15.6 | 26.0 | 0.0 | 15.2 | 13.8 | 15.0 | -9 | -1 | 0 | 97 |
| Connecticut | 96.4 | 3.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 29.5 | 18.6 | not shown | -37 | not shown | 19 | 99 |
| Delaware | 66.1 | 10.9 | 23.0 | 0.0 | 17.2 | 16.5 | 14.2 | -4 | -17 | 6 | 96 |
| District of Columbia | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 16.6 | not shown | not shown | not shown | not shown | 9 | 100 |
| Florida | 75.1 | 13.2 | 11.7 | 0.0 | 14.4 | 13.1 | 13.3 | -9 | -8 | 0 | 100 |
| Georgia | 52.5 | 4.5 | 42.8 | 0.2 | 15.5 | 12.9 | 12.8 | -17 | -18 | 0 | 97 |
| Hawaii | 93.3 | 0.0 | 6.7 | 0.0 | 44.1 | not shown | 41.3 | not shown | -6 | 0 | 100 |
| Idaho | 87.4 | 3.4 | 9.2 | 0.0 | 11.8 | 9.2 | 11.0 | -21 | -6 | 0 | 96 |
| Illinois | 93.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 15.1 | 12.7 | 15.9 | -16 | +5 | 26 | 97 |
| Indiana | 77.7 | 5.0 | 17.2 | 0.0 | 14.8 | 12.1 | 15.1 | -18 | +2 | 0 | 95 |
| Iowa | 84.5 | 4.7 | 10.8 | 0.0 | 13.6 | 11.8 | 13.4 | -13 | -1 | 0 | 86 |
| Kansas | 80.5 | 8.5 | 11.0 | 0.0 | 13.9 | 14.3 | 13.7 | +3 | -1 | 0 | 85 |
| Kentucky | 54.0 | 7.2 | 38.8 | 0.0 | 12.6 | 12.5 | 13.1 | -1 | +4 | 0 | 99 |
| Louisiana | 76.0 | 5.1 | 18.8 | 0.0 | 11.7 | 10.0 | 12.1 | -15 | +3 | 0 | 98 |
| Maine | 97.7 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 24.3 | not shown | not shown | not shown | not shown | 9 | 99 |
| Maryland | 90.4 | 1.0 | 8.7 | 0.0 | 18.0 | 9.8 | 15.2 | -45 | -16 | 12 | 100 |
| Massachusetts | 90.8 | 9.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 32.2 | 16.5 | not shown | -49 | not shown | 58 | 96 |
| Michigan | 88.8 | 4.7 | 6.5 | 0.0 | 19.6 | 16.5 | 18.4 | -16 | -6 | 0 | 98 |
| Minnesota | 60.4 | 8.3 | 31.3 | 0.0 | 16.6 | 14.7 | 14.6 | -11 | -12 | 0 | 90 |
| Mississippi | 41.6 | 6.6 | 51.9 | 0.0 | 13.6 | 11.9 | 13.4 | -12 | -1 | 0 | 97 |
| Missouri | 66.5 | 9.8 | 23.6 | 0.0 | 12.9 | 12.7 | 12.8 | -1 | -1 | 0 | 93 |
| Montana | 72.6 | 0.0 | 24.0 | 3.4 | 14.1 | not shown | 10.7 | not shown | -25 | 0 | 86 |
| Nebraska | 0.0 | 27.0 | 0.6 | 72.4 | not shown | 11.0 | not shown | not shown | not shown | 0 | 84 |
| Nevada | 95.7 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 1.2 | 15.2 | not shown | 14.2 | not shown | -6 | 0 | 99 |
| New Hampshire | 88.5 | 0.0 | 11.5 | 0.0 | 22.7 | not shown | 23.8 | not shown | +5 | 36 | 98 |
| New Jersey | 99.4 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 19.2 | 17.8 | not shown | -7 | not shown | 5 | 99 |
| New Mexico | 77.8 | 4.9 | 16.2 | 1.1 | 13.9 | 12.9 | 15.1 | -7 | +8 | 0 | 95 |
| New York | 85.0 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 14.1 | 24.5 | 7.7 | not shown | -68 | not shown | 9 | 99 |
| North Carolina | 68.6 | 9.4 | 21.8 | 0.1 | 14.6 | 12.0 | 13.7 | -18 | -6 | 0 | 97 |
| North Dakota | 55.5 | 0.0 | 44.5 | 0.0 | 11.8 | not shown | 11.2 | not shown | -5 | 0 | 94 |
| Ohio | 89.2 | 4.8 | 6.1 | 0.0 | 17.2 | 13.2 | 16.2 | -23 | -6 | 61 | 97 |
| Oklahoma | 68.5 | 5.2 | 26.3 | 0.0 | 12.2 | 12.1 | 12.4 | -1 | +1 | 0 | 94 |
| Oregon | 77.2 | 8.2 | 8.8 | 5.9 | 16.3 | 11.0 | 11.0 | -32 | -33 | 0 | 96 |
| Pennsylvania | 96.7 | 0.2 | 3.1 | 0.0 | 17.3 | not shown | 15.6 | not shown | -10 | 24 | 98 |
| Rhode Island | 98.7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 28.3 | not shown | not shown | not shown | not shown | 25 | 100 |
| South Carolina | 56.5 | 4.6 | 31.5 | 7.4 | 14.4 | 12.7 | 14.6 | -11 | +1 | 0 | 97 |
| South Dakota | 64.5 | 9.3 | 26.0 | 0.3 | 13.4 | 10.5 | 13.1 | -22 | -2 | 0 | 80 |
| Tennessee | 1.4 | 66.0 | 32.6 | 0.0 | 12.8 | 12.4 | 12.4 | -3 | -3 | 0 | 100 |
| Texas | 9.2 | 14.8 | 19.8 | 0.0 | 13.3 | 12.6 | 12.7 | -6 | -5 | 0 | 99 |
| Utah | 80.6 | 14.3 | 4.6 | 0.5 | 12.5 | 11.5 | 9.5 | -8 | -25 | 0 | 92 |
| Vermont | 80.8 | 6.4 | 12.8 | 0.0 | 22.1 | not shown | 23.3 | not shown | +5 | 0 | 87 |
| Virginia | 80.1 | 2.6 | 17.1 | 0.2 | 14.6 | 13.2 | 13.8 | -10 | -5 | 0 | 98 |
| Washington | 43.9 | 21.0 | 4.5 | 30.6 | 13.8 | 12.5 | 10.1 | -9 | -27 | 0 | 98 |
| West Virginia | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 15.1 | not shown | not shown | not shown | not shown | 0 | 99 |
| Wisconsin | 86.4 | 8.1 | 5.5 | 0.0 | 17.9 | 12.4 | 16.1 | -31 | -10 | 0 | 94 |
| Wyoming | 71.0 | 5.7 | 23.3 | 0.0 | 13.9 | not shown | 9.3 | not shown | -33 | 0 | 86 |
Download state by type data as CSV Download all utilities as CSV
Click a header to sort. "Not shown" means the type has fewer than 20,000 bundled residential customers with a price in that state. Prices are bundled-service averages, so in states with energy-only suppliers they describe customers served by their utility.
Where the gaps are largest
Eight states with the biggest discount and five with the highest premium, municipal utilities against investor-owned in the same state; 36 states are comparable.
Cooperatives: 30 of 41 states below investor-owned; largest premium +58% in Alaska, largest discount -33% in Wyoming. See the table for every state.
Cooperative price gaps and rural territory
Across 41 states the correlation is r = -0.37, a moderate negative link. Cooperatives serve more rural counties than investor-owned utilities in most states, yet the gap varies in sign and size, so the two do not line up state by state. Taxes, power supply contracts, debt, customer density, usage and what each price includes also differ and are not measured here. The rurality figure is the share of listed counties that are nonmetro, not customers.
Who serves me, and how do they compare?
- Pick a utility.
What this means for you
- Find your utility's name on your bill or in the map on your state page. Its type decides who sets its rates: in many states a state commission reviews investor-owned rates, while municipal and cooperative rates are often set by a city council or a member-elected board, with some states regulating them too.
- You usually cannot switch your wires utility, so use the comparison to see how your bill sits against your state's other types, then check your own rate schedule.
- A lower average price at a cooperative or municipal utility does not mean your bill would drop if you moved to one: usage, fixed charges, territory and taxes differ.
- If you pay a competitive supplier, compare its rate with your utility's default price on your bill; the pages on your state list how many customers buy that way.
How we measure it
Source: EIA-861 for 2024, sheet Sales_Ult_Cust, residential columns only. Customers served are the wires utility's bundled customers (Part A) plus delivery-only customers (Part C); in Texas, where the wires companies file no sales sheet, the retail electric providers' bundled customers (Part D). Energy-only customers (Part B, mostly competitive suppliers and community choice programs) are shown as a share and not added, since the same households already appear under their wires utility. Adjustment rows (utility number 99999) and behind-the-meter rows are dropped. Price is revenue divided by sales across a type's bundled residential service, with fixed charges included, so it is an average price and not a rate. A type enters a within-state comparison only with 20,000+ bundled residential customers. Coverage compares our customer total with EIA's published 2024 residential customer count for the state. Rurality: each utility's listed service-territory counties (EIA Service_Territory) are matched by state and county name to USDA's 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes; codes 4 to 9 are nonmetro. 49 of 11,776 territory rows could not be matched (Connecticut planning-region codes and renamed Alaska areas) and are left out. Utility type is the type in EIA's own filing.
What this does not show: why prices differ, what a household would pay at another utility, wholesale cost, taxes and fees, or the quality of service. Averages for small types in a state rest on a few utilities.
Browse by state
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Sources
| Source | Period | Retrieved | SHA-256 (first 12) |
|---|---|---|---|
| EIA, Annual Electric Power Industry Report (Form EIA-861), 2024 data: Sales_Ult_Cust, Utility_Data, Short_Form, Service_Territory | 2024 data year | file set dated 6 Oct 2025; downloaded to our archive 1 Oct 2026 | 77ce49c60ac5 |
| USDA Economic Research Service, Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | 2023 codes (last updated 22 Jan 2024) | retrieved 7 Oct 2026 | ec455ee2a8bc |
| EIA Open Data API, retail-sales | 2024 residential customers, used for the coverage figure only | cached copy, 7 Oct 2026 | 237b6f98d5f7 |
Downloads: state by type CSV, all utilities CSV. Method on the hub page.
Questions
Are cooperative and municipal utilities cheaper than investor-owned ones?
In EIA-861 2024 data municipal utilities had a lower average residential price than investor-owned ones in 35 of 36 states where both can be compared (median -14%), and cooperatives in 30 of 41 (median -5%). These compare customer groups with different usage and territory and do not prove a cost advantage.
Which type of utility serves the most homes?
Investor-owned utilities: 69% of residential customers in the file, against 10% municipal and 13% cooperative.
How do I know what type my utility is?
Look up its name on your state page here; the type is the one the utility reports to EIA. Its bill or website usually states it too.
Can I pick a different utility?
Usually not. Your wires utility follows your address. In some states you can buy energy from a competitive supplier while the local utility still delivers it.
Why are some states missing a price for a type?
A type needs 20,000+ bundled residential customers with a published price in the state to be shown. Smaller groups are too sensitive to a single utility.