Electric Power Generation & Distribution
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 2,227 electric power generation and distribution companies in the US produce and deliver electricity to residential customers, commercial businesses, and industrial operations. The industry consists of publicly-owned utilities, electric co-operatives, investor-owned utilities, and power marketers. Operations are either fully or partially regulated, depending on the State they operate in.
Changes in Environmental Laws and Regulations
Environmental laws and regulations are changing constantly and can have large impacts on electric utilities.
Shift to Natural Gas Generation
Low natural gas prices and restrictions on coal and nuclear plants are causing a shift to natural gas for new generating capacity.
Industry size & Structure
A typical electric power company operates from multiple locations and has revenues of about $253 million per year.
- There are 2,227 firms providing electric power utility services in the US, employing 500,000 workers, and generating annual revenue of $563 billion.
- 58.8% are publicly owned utilities, 25.5% are cooperatives, 5.2% are investor-owned utilities, 9% are power marketers, and 1.6% are either community choice aggregators, behind-the-meter (on-site generation), or federal power agencies.
- Public utilities serve 14.8% of US customers, cooperatives serve 12.9%, investor-owned utilities serve 66%, power marketers serve 4.6%, and behind-the-meter (on-site generation) serves 1.6%.
- 45% of establishments have fewer than 20 employees, and 20% of firms are large with over 100 employees each.
- Large electric power utilities include: Exelon Corp., Southern Co., First Energy, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), PSEG Long Island, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative, Cobb Electric Member Corporation and Middle Tennessee EMC.
- Entry into the business as a for-profit enterprise in the distribution business is difficult as most population centers are in franchised territories as designated by the state public utility commission. Entry into the generating business as an independent power producer (IPP) has a lower barrier, requiring only permits and capital for construction and certification by the ISO.
Industry Forecast
Electric Power Generation & Distribution Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Mar 21, 2025 - Solar, Battery Storage to Lead 2025 Electricity Generation Growth
- US electricity generation capacity additions in 2025 are expected to be led by solar and battery storage projects, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The US is projected to add 63 gigawatts (GW) of generating capacity in 2025, led by utility-scale solar with 32.5 GW, followed by battery storage (18.2 GW), wind (7.7 GW), and natural gas (4.4 GW). Additions in Texas (11.6 GW) and California (2.9 GW) will account for nearly half of the solar capacity additions in 2025. Other states that are expected to have significant upticks in solar additions in 2025 include Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, and New York.
- On March 12, the EPA said it aims to roll back many regulations related to air, water, and waste that affect power plants, according to Utility Dive. However, research firm Capstone suggests that current and future litigation could prevent any changes from going into effect before the next presidential administration. The EPA intends to take interim steps to reduce regulations sooner, including a possible two-year exemption for power facilities impacted by EPA mercury and air toxin standards while the official rulemaking policy plays out. The EPA also hopes to reconsider several other power-related regulations, including ambient air quality standards for soot, a rule regulating ozone from drifting into different states, regulating how coal ash is handled, and power plant effluent rules.
- A lack of coordination between data center operators on one side and power utilities and grid operators on the other is increasing the chances of wide-scale power outages, according to reporting by Reuters in March. In July, 60 data centers outside Washington DC – an area known as Data Center Alley - fell off the grid and switched to on-site generators. The data centers suddenly leaving the grid caused a massive surge in available electricity and the local utility and grid operator had to quickly reduce output by power plants to protect grid equipment and prevent possible cascading outages. To avoid service interruptions, data centers are designed to switch to generator power at the slightest sign of grid trouble, according to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). In the case of July’s Data Center Alley event, the grid trouble was caused by a faulty surge protector on a power line. NERC suggests the risks of outages will only increase as more data centers come online. Regulators could require data centers to ride out dips in voltage, but that may prompt them to move to states with fewer regulations, according to the director of Harvard’s Electricity Law Institute. Data center operators say voltage fluctuations can cause costly damage to electronic and cooling equipment.
- Some oil and gas majors are considering entering the electricity generation market amid the rapid uptick in energy demand by the data centers used to power AI, according to The Wall Street Journal. Chevron and Exxon Mobil are both in conversations with data center operators about providing natural gas-fired power generation with carbon capture. Large oil and gas companies have experience building gas-fired plants to support their various operating activities, including refining, petrochemical production, and natural gas liquefaction. Oil and gas majors may also have more recent plant construction experience than independent power producers, some of which have not built a new plant since the early 2000s. Oil firms can also site plants near their own fuel production sites and power data centers without needing to connect to the grid.
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