Electric utilities in the U.S. - statistics & facts
An electric utility is most often a company that operates facilities to generate, transmit, or distribute electricity to both public and industrial consumers. Electric utilities can be involved in one or more of these activities. For example, electricity marketers that only buy and sell electricity can also be considered utilities. In the United States, there are around 3,000 electric utility companies providing power to more than 140 million customers. These utilities were responsible for an electricity generation of more than 2,200 terawatt-hours in 2022.
There are three main types of electric utilities in the United States: investor-owned utilities, publicly owned utilities, and cooperative utilities. While investor-owned utilities make up a small share of electricity providers, they tend to serve the most customers.
A NextEra Energy subsidiary, Florida Power & Light Co, ranks as the leading U.S. electricity utility in terms of customers, serving more than 5.7 million users in 2022. Florida Power & Light Co was also the leading utility based on electricity sales that year. Meanwhile, serving electricity and gas customers in six states, Georgia-based Southern Company is the largest U.S. electric utility based on revenue, generating almost 30 billion U.S. dollars in financial year 2022.
In light of these emerging trends, utilities have faced rising difficulties in recent years, with new distributed capacities which are forcing companies to upgrade their transmission and distribution grids. Combined with an aging existing infrastructure, operating expenses for transmission and distribution of major investor-owned electric utilities have increased continuously over the past decade.
Leading U.S. utility companies
Several U.S. electric utilities, including NextEra Energy, Southern Company, and Duke Energy are among the largest utility companies in the world in terms of market value. With power generation, distribution, and storage infrastructure located throughout the United States, Florida-based NextEra Energy was the world’s most valuable electric utility in 2023, with a market value of 152.79 billion U.S. dollars. Recent years have seen impressive growth in NextEra’s installed renewable energy capacity, as the company pursues significant CO₂ emissions reductions.A NextEra Energy subsidiary, Florida Power & Light Co, ranks as the leading U.S. electricity utility in terms of customers, serving more than 5.7 million users in 2022. Florida Power & Light Co was also the leading utility based on electricity sales that year. Meanwhile, serving electricity and gas customers in six states, Georgia-based Southern Company is the largest U.S. electric utility based on revenue, generating almost 30 billion U.S. dollars in financial year 2022.
A sector in transition
The reduction in the price of renewables and energy storage, the establishment of carbon regulations, and growing international pressure have helped push the energy transition in the U.S. in recent years. Many utilities are now investing heavily in clean energy, proposing steep reductions of emissions and increases in efficiency. In fact, renewable electricity generation in the U.S. is expected to more than double in the next decade. In 2022, three out of the five largest renewable energy companies worldwide were in the U.S. .In light of these emerging trends, utilities have faced rising difficulties in recent years, with new distributed capacities which are forcing companies to upgrade their transmission and distribution grids. Combined with an aging existing infrastructure, operating expenses for transmission and distribution of major investor-owned electric utilities have increased continuously over the past decade.
