Electric bills across the U.S. have surged nearly 30% since 2021, with the average monthly bill rising from $121 to $156 — outpacing inflation and straining household budgets. While utilities cite extreme weather, aging infrastructure, and rising demand from data centers, consumer advocates point to a deeper structural issue: the business model itself. Investor-owned utilities earn profits not from selling electricity, but from capital investments approved by regulators, which guarantee returns of 9.5% to 11% on projects like power plants and transmission lines.

This creates a perverse incentive: the more a utility spends, the more it earns — even if cheaper or more efficient solutions exist. From 2021 to 2024, investor-owned utilities collected $244 billion in profits from customers, according to the Energy and Policy Institute. In some states, utilities can even charge customers for political spending, though reforms in others have saved hundreds of millions annually.

Despite fivefold increases in federal spending on transmission, grid reliability has not improved. Experts argue that building long-distance high-voltage lines could lower costs and boost resilience, but utilities often favor smaller, local projects that generate guaranteed returns. Meanwhile, regulatory capture — with revolving doors between agencies and companies — undermines oversight. In Pennsylvania, public backlash forced PECO to withdraw a proposed 11% return after criticism from Governor Josh Shapiro, who called it 'pure greed.'