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Rate cases, bills and how to have a say

The tracker shows you the numbers. These pages explain what the numbers mean, in the order most people need them.

• What a rate case is, and how one actually works
  The public proceeding where a utility asks permission to charge more: who files, who argues, how long it takes, and why the ask is not the outcome.
• How to read your electric bill
  Supply, delivery, riders and the fixed charge: which lines a rate case moves, which ones you can shop, and why two neighbors pay different amounts.
• Why power bills jumped in 2025 and 2026
  Capacity prices, data center load, storms and the cost of money: the four things behind the increases, and which one hit your state.
• How to comment on a rate case, and whether it does anything
  Where comments go, what the commission does with them, and the one move that matters more than a comment.
• Can I switch my electricity supplier?
  Which states let you, what actually changes on the bill, and the three traps in supplier offers.
• What "typical bill" means when a utility quotes it
  Utilities pick their own kWh benchmark. How we turn a percentage into dollars, and how to scale it to your own usage.
• Do data centers raise your electric bill?
  Large load tariffs, who pays for new generation and transmission, the PJM capacity auction, and the states that made data centers pay their own way.
• Fuel and purchased power adjustments: the increase that skips the hearing
  What the rider is, why it moves without a rate case, how it gets trued up, and how to find it on your bill.

Method and sources for the tracker itself are on the methodology page. For the measured gap between what utilities ask and what they get, see asked vs approved; for how your state's bill compares nationwide, see average electric bill by state; and for every case tied to data center load, see rate cases tied to data centers.