Methodology

UtilityRateWatch tracks rate changes for US electric utilities: what each utility has asked regulators for, what regulators decided, when new rates take effect, and what the change means for a typical household bill. This page explains where the numbers come from and how to read them.

Sources

Every figure on the site links to the source it came from. In order of preference, we use:

1. Regulator records: dockets, filings and orders from state utility commissions.
2. Utility filings: rate applications, testimony and tariff filings submitted to regulators.
3. Utility announcements and reputable news: press releases and local or trade news coverage.

Each rate event is labeled verified against regulator or utility filings when at least one source is a docket, order or filing, and based on news or utility announcements otherwise. We upgrade events to primary sources as we find them.

We never estimate a figure the sources don't support. When a number isn't public, we show “Not disclosed”. Summaries are written in our own words. When we mention the views of consumer advocates or other parties, we attribute and source them.

What the statuses mean

• Proposed: the utility has filed a request; regulators haven't decided.
• Settlement pending: the utility and other parties reached a settlement that regulators still need to approve.
• Approved / Partially approved: regulators approved the request in full or in part.
• In effect: the new rates are on bills now.
• Denied / Withdrawn: regulators rejected the request, or the utility withdrew it.

Colors follow the status: amber for pending, red for approved or in effect, gray for denied or withdrawn.

“Typical home” and bill impact

Utilities and regulators usually state a rate change's effect on one typical residential customer, for example a home using 1,000 kWh a month. We report the figure exactly as the source states it, along with the usage it assumes, which varies by utility. Some changes arrive in steps (for example, one increase in January and another the following year); each step is shown separately and adds to the previous one.

“Requested” and “approved” dollar amounts are increases in the utility's revenue as the source states them: usually a yearly figure, sometimes a multi-year total (the summary says which). They are not what an individual household pays.

How the bill calculator works

The calculator gives a rough estimate for your home, starting from the typical-home figure in the source:

• If the source breaks the change into a fixed monthly charge and a per-kWh charge, we apply that split to your usage.
• Otherwise we scale the typical-home impact in proportion to your usage. Because part of most bills is a fixed charge that doesn't scale with usage, this is an approximation and is labeled as a rough estimate.
• If you enter a bill amount instead of usage, we first convert it to approximate usage, using the typical bill the source states if there is one, or otherwise the average residential electricity price in your state from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). If neither is available but the source states a percentage change, we apply that percentage to your bill.

Your actual change depends on your rate plan, season, taxes and other charges. Check your utility's tariff for exact figures.

State average prices

State pages show monthly average residential prices for electricity (cents per kWh) and natural gas (dollars per thousand cubic feet) from the EIA's open data. These are statewide averages across all utilities, updated monthly.

How we keep pages current

Every week we check each utility for new filings, settlements, decisions and effective dates. We use automated research tools, including AI-assisted search, to find candidate changes; each candidate must cite a source that loads, and a person reviews every change before it is published. Each utility page shows the date it was last checked, even when nothing changed.

We only publish a page for a utility when we have at least one sourced rate event, or a sourced most recent rate case plus a current average rate.

Corrections

If something is wrong or out of date, tell us and include a link to the source. We fix confirmed errors promptly and update the event's “last verified” date.