How it works

Sources and the arithmetic

Short version: we keep a list of rate cases from state commission dockets, record what the utility asked for and what was approved, and turn the percentage into dollars using a bill you can check. Here is the long version.

Where the cases come from

• State utility commission dockets: the application, staff testimony, the settlement if there is one, and the final order. Every case page cites its docket number when the commission assigns one.
• The utility's own filings and news releases, which usually state the typical residential impact the utility wants you to see.
• State consumer advocates (the Ohio Consumers' Counsel, Illinois CUB, the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate and their peers), whose fact sheets are the plain-English version of the numbers.
• Local reporting, which is often where a settlement or a hearing date appears first.

Each case carries a status: pending, settled (the parties agreed, the commission has not ruled), approved, denied, withdrawn, or on bills now. Requested and approved figures are kept separate on purpose: rate cases routinely end far below the ask, and a site that quoted the ask as the outcome would overstate almost every case.

Who serves your ZIP

The ZIP lookup uses the US Department of Energy's OpenEI "Electric Utility Companies and Rates" dataset, built from EIA Form 861 service territories. Many ZIP codes are served by more than one utility; when that happens we show the choices and ask you to pick the name on your bill. Cooperatives and city utilities set rates through their own boards rather than the state commission, so they rarely appear in a docket even though they serve about a quarter of the country.

The dollar figure

When the utility or the commission has published a monthly dollar impact for a typical residential customer, we use it and say which usage benchmark it assumes (utilities pick their own: 601 kWh in Colorado, 1,000 kWh in Ohio, 800 kWh in Washington). When only a percentage is published, we multiply it by the average monthly residential bill in your state from the US Energy Information Administration's Form 861 data (Table 5.A, 2024) and label the result an estimate. Your own bill scales with your usage: a home using twice the state average would see roughly twice the dollar change. When neither a dollar figure nor a percentage has been published, the page says so rather than guessing.

Pending totals on a utility page add up the pending cases with a figure. They are the ask, not a forecast.

Supplier choice

In 14 states and the District of Columbia, households can choose their electricity supplier; a rate case in those states changes the delivery part of the bill that every customer pays, while the supply price can be shopped. Where that applies we say so, and where we link to a comparison service we may earn a referral fee, which does not change the price you are offered.

Alerts

An alert is one email when a case is filed, gets a hearing date, or is decided for the utility you picked, plus any statewide matter in that state. Confirmation is double opt-in. We do not sell the list and there is no newsletter.

What this is not

This is arithmetic on public filings. It is not a forecast of your bill, not legal advice, and not a substitute for the commission's own notice on your docket. When a figure looks wrong, tell us at [email protected] with the docket and we will check it against the record.