Do electric utilities have guaranteed profits?

Not exactly. Regulators authorize a target return on equity — typically about 9.5% to 10.5% for U.S. electric utilities — on the money a utility invests in the grid. It's a target, not a guarantee: a utility can earn above or below it. But because a regulated monopoly carries little business risk, it reliably lands close. The authorized return is also not the same thing as a parent company's net income.

How much do utility parent companies make?

In fiscal 2024, the parent companies of the utilities we track reported net income ranging from about $886 million to $4.5 billion (Duke Energy), across all the utilities each one owns (Source: SEC Form 10-K, FY2024).

Is the profit figure the utility's own profit?

No — and this is the most common mistake. Net income is reported at the parent-company level, and a parent typically owns many utilities across several states. We show the parent's total and list which of the utilities we track roll up to it; we never present a parent's profit as a single utility's.

Rankings · profits

Where your electric bill profit goes

Your electric utility is a regulated monopoly, so its profit isn't won in a market — it's set by regulators, who authorize a target return of about 9.5% to 10.5% on the money the utility invests in poles, wires, and substations. That return is a target, not a guarantee — but a monopoly with captive customers reliably earns close to it. Here's what the parent companies behind your utility actually took home.

One thing to keep straight: these are parent-company profits. A parent like Duke Energy owns many utilities across several states, so its net income is not any single utility's profit — and the authorized return on equity is a regulatory target on the utility's investment, a different thing from the parent's bottom-line net income. We keep those separate on purpose.

Parent-company net income, FY2024

Utility parent-company net income FY2024, with the tracked subsidiaries of each. Source: SEC 10-K.
#	Parent company	Net income (FY2024)	Utilities we track under it
1	Duke Energy	$4.5 billion	Duke Energy Ohio
2	American Electric Power	$3.0 billion	AEP Ohio, Appalachian Power (APCo), Appalachian Power (APCo), Wheeling Power
3	Exelon	$2.5 billion	Atlantic City Electric, Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE), ComEd, Delmarva Power, Delmarva Power (Delaware), PECO Energy, Pepco (D.C.), Pepco (Maryland)
4	Dominion Energy	$2.0 billion	Dominion Energy Virginia
5	Consolidated Edison	$1.8 billion	Rockland Electric
6	Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG)	$1.8 billion	PSE&G
7	The AES Corporation	$1.7 billion	AES Ohio
8	Ameren	$1.2 billion	Ameren Illinois
9	FirstEnergy	$978 million	Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), Met-Ed (FirstEnergy), Mon Power, Ohio Edison (FirstEnergy), Penelec (FirstEnergy), Penn Power (FirstEnergy), Potomac Edison, Potomac Edison (West Virginia), The Illuminating Company (FirstEnergy), Toledo Edison (FirstEnergy), West Penn Power (FirstEnergy)
10	PPL Corporation	$886 million	PPL Electric Utilities

Net income attributable to the parent, fiscal year 2024. Source: SEC Form 10-K filings. Download CSV · Methodology & limits · Duquesne Light's owner (DQE Holdings) is privately held and doesn't report publicly.

Profit and disconnections, by company

Two facts, both from federal filings, worth setting next to each other. In FY2024, American Electric Power reported about $3.0 billion in net income across all its utilities in 11 states (SEC 10-K). In the same year, its Appalachian Power operation in West Virginia disconnected residential customers for nonpayment at the highest rate in our data — about 18.6 per 100 customers (EIA-112).

These figures are not causally linked: a parent's profit doesn't come from one subsidiary's disconnections, and disconnection rates are driven mainly by territory poverty, climate, and state shutoff-protection law (see methodology). Utilities also note that disconnections follow state-regulated procedures and that the authorized return funds grid investment. We're not assigning motive — both numbers are public record, each is correctly scoped (one is the parent's across many subsidiaries; the other is one subsidiary's), and we leave the weighing to you.

Common questions

Do electric utilities have guaranteed profits?: Not exactly. Regulators authorize a target return on equity — typically about 9.5% to 10.5% for U.S. electric utilities — on the money a utility invests in the grid. It's a target, not a guarantee: a utility can earn above or below it. But because a regulated monopoly carries little business risk, it reliably lands close. The authorized return is also not the same thing as a parent company's net income.
How much do utility parent companies make?: In fiscal 2024, the parent companies of the utilities we track reported net income ranging from about $886 million to $4.5 billion (Duke Energy), across all the utilities each one owns (Source: SEC Form 10-K, FY2024).
Is the profit figure the utility's own profit?: No — and this is the most common mistake. Net income is reported at the parent-company level, and a parent typically owns many utilities across several states. We show the parent's total and list which of the utilities we track roll up to it; we never present a parent's profit as a single utility's.