The Dynamic Dozen: The 12 Largest Public Utilities in the U.S.

This article is published in collaboration with Visual Capitalist

Dynamic Dozen: The 12 Largest Public Utilities in the U.S.

Public utilities are community-owned, non-profit organizations that supply electricity to local customers. Funded primarily through taxes and service revenues, public utilities are driven by a commitment to serve the public interest rather than generate profits.

In partnership with the National Public Utilities Council, we present the 2024 edition of our Annual Utility Decarbonization Index. The index uses the latest available data from company reports to track the decarbonization progress of the 47 largest investor-owned utilities (IOUs) in the United States.

And for the first time this year, the Index also includes a ranking of the 20 largest public utilities in the U.S. and which ones have the cleanest fuel mixes. So which public utilities contribute the most to the U.S. power grid?

The Top 12 Largest American Public Utilities

The two largest public utilities contributed nearly 30 million MWh each to the nation’s grid in 2022.

The country’s largest public utility, the New York Power Authority, was founded in 1931 by Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt before becoming President and today operates primarily on hydropower.

The runner-up for the highest-producing public utility is the Salt River Project in Arizona. It was founded in 1903 and provides nearly all of the Phoenix metropolitan area with electricity from a variety of sources.

Rounding off the top 10 is the Washington state-based Grant County PUD. The utility was founded in 1938 and today generates 100% of its electricity from hydropower.

Overall, public power accounts for 59% of the total number of utilities operating in the U.S. and provides electricity to two of the largest cities in the country, New York and Los Angeles. Many of the largest public utilities have operated for generations.

Download the 2024 Annual Utility Decarbonization Report

In 2022, 49% of the electricity generated by the top 20 public utilities came from carbon-free sources. For investor-owned utilities, it was 42%. Download the report to see the rest of the largest public utilities.

In addition to the public utilities, there’s much more to explore in the 2024 report, including:

Inflation Reduction Act impacts
Market trends for renewables
Year-to-year progressions
Fuel mix rankings for the largest public utilities
Gas utility emissions rankings

Download the 2024 NPUC Annual Utility Decarbonization Report to find out everything you need to know about the clean energy transition in the U.S. power sector.

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