Delivery vs supply charges: the two halves of an electric bill

The two parts in plain terms

Supply (also labelled generation, energy or electric supply service) is the cost of producing the electricity you used. Delivery (distribution, delivery service) is the cost of the poles, wires, transformers, substations and meters that carry it to your home, plus meter reading and billing. Your local utility always does the delivering, and outside the competitive areas of Texas it bills for it too. Supply comes either from the utility's own default service or, in states with retail choice, from a supplier or a community program.

The two parts are also regulated differently. EIA notes that in some states the utility commission regulates the whole price, while others combine unregulated prices for generation with regulated prices for transmission and distribution (EIA, factors affecting electricity prices). Delivery stays regulated even where supply is open: the commission approves the utility's delivery charges, and they are the same for every home on the same rate, whoever supplies the power.

Pennsylvania's official shopping site, run by the state utility commission, lists the lines a bill can carry (PAPowerSwitch bill guide):

• Distribution charge: the local wires, transformers, substations and other equipment that bring power from the high-voltage lines to homes.
• Customer charge: a monthly basic charge for billing, meter reading, equipment and maintenance.
• Transmission charge: moving high-voltage power from the power plant to the distribution lines.
• Generation charge: the production of electricity, the part that depends on your choice of supplier.

Transmission can sit on either side of the line

Transmission is the line item that moves. Even within Pennsylvania it changes sides: the same bill guide says that for a home using a competitive supplier, transmission is rolled into generation. In New Jersey, the default supply price that a supplier's offer is measured against covers generation and transmission, including energy, capacity, ancillary services and line losses, with sales tax (NJ Power Switch, the Price to Compare). In ComEd's territory in Illinois, the Price to Compare is the electric supply charge plus the transmission services charge, and the delivery service charges are paid "regardless of whether you purchase your electric supply from ComEd" or a supplier (Plug In Illinois). In Ohio, a supplier's fixed-rate disclosure must give the price per kWh for generation and, where it applies, transmission (PUCO rule on contract disclosure).

So "delivery" and "supply" do not mean exactly the same thing in every state. Compare your delivery charges with those of other homes in your state, and check which lines a supplier's price replaces before comparing it with your bill.

How big the delivery part is, utility by utility

EIA's annual survey of utilities (form EIA-861) records what each utility billed residential customers who buy their supply from someone else. Those bills contain delivery only, so the figure is the clearest public measure of the delivery part of a bill. Divided by the kWh those homes used, it gives delivery-only revenue per kWh: an average of everything the utility billed for delivery, customer charge included, not a tariff rate.

Potomac Edison (MD)4.08¢

JCP&L (NJ)4.90¢

Oncor (TX)5.64¢

PPL Electric Utilities (PA)6.51¢

ComEd (IL)8.89¢

AEP Ohio (OH)10.26¢

Central Maine Power (ME)17.11¢

Eversource (MA)20.06¢

Con Edison (NY)24.29¢

SDG&E (CA)27.33¢

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Delivery charges only: what the utility billed customers who buy supply elsewhere, divided by their kWh. Not comparable with bundled prices.

Show the numbers

Utility	delivery-only revenue per kWh (residential)
Potomac Edison (MD)	4.08¢
JCP&L (NJ)	4.90¢
Oncor (TX)	5.64¢
PPL Electric Utilities (PA)	6.51¢
ComEd (IL)	8.89¢
AEP Ohio (OH)	10.26¢
Central Maine Power (ME)	17.11¢
Eversource (MA)	20.06¢
Con Edison (NY)	24.29¢
SDG&E (CA)	27.33¢

Among these ten utilities, the 2025 average ran from 4.08¢ per kWh at Potomac Edison in Maryland to 27.33¢ per kWh at SDG&E in California. Oncor, the Texas delivery utility with the most residential customers, averaged 5.64¢ per kWh; ComEd 8.89¢ per kWh; Con Edison 24.29¢ per kWh¹.

The monthly amounts show what that means on a bill. Con Edison's delivery-only customers used 442 kWh a month on average in 2025 and paid $107.46 for delivery alone. PPL Electric's used 1,051 kWh and paid $68.38¹. The New York homes used fewer kWh and paid more for delivery, before buying a single kWh of supply.

Part of the spread follows from where transmission is billed, as described above. Part reflects the cost of the networks themselves. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's 2026 retail price review finds that distribution spending contributed to investor-owned utility price increases from 2019 to 2025 especially in California, New York and New England, where distribution-related prices were also highest, and that falling retail sales in those regions spread the costs over fewer kWh.

Delivery and supply side by side, by state

The table lists every state where 1% or more of homes buy supply from a supplier or community program. Each figure is a 2025 average revenue per kWh for a different group of customers: default service covers utility customers buying both parts from the utility; supply only covers supplier and community-program customers; delivery only covers what the utility billed those same shoppers. The supply-only and delivery-only columns are shown side by side, not added, and none of them is a current price.

The ratio between the two columns flips from region to region. In New Jersey, supplier customers paid an average of 17.85¢ per kWh for supply, while delivery-only charges averaged 6.19¢ per kWh; New Jersey's default supply price includes transmission (NJ Power Switch), one reason the line falls differently there. In California, delivery-only charges averaged 23.44¢ per kWh and supply only 14.48¢ per kWh. Massachusetts (19.49¢ per kWh delivery, 15.22¢ per kWh supply) and Connecticut (18.96¢ per kWh and 11.78¢ per kWh¹) follow the California pattern.

California has one more wrinkle. Many homes there buy supply from a community choice aggregator (CCA), a program run by a local government, and CCA customers also pay the utility a Power Charge Indifference Adjustment, which the state commission uses so that departing customers pay for, or benefit from, the power contracts and plants the utility had already committed to (CPUC, PCIA). It is paid to the utility, not the CCA, even though it relates to supply.

Supply charges: what shoppers paid, and the utility's own price

EIA's supply-only figure for supplier customers is an average over a whole year across every contract in force: new offers, expired contracts rolled onto variable prices, and community aggregation programs. In 2025 it ranged from 8.61¢ per kWh in Ohio to 20.87¢ per kWh¹ in the District of Columbia. It describes what was paid, not what any supplier offers now.

New York shows how the three parts of a market differ:

Utility full-service customers (default service): supply and delivery25.92¢

Competitive suppliers and CCAs: supply only14.79¢

Utility delivery for customers of a supplier: delivery only17.88¢

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Average revenue per kWh by service part, EIA-861 2025. Supply-only and delivery-only averages each cover only part of a bill and different groups of customers; adding them gives only a rough estimate of what a shopping customer paid in total.

Show the numbers

Part of the market	¢/kWh
Utility full-service customers (default service): supply and delivery	25.92¢
Competitive suppliers and CCAs: supply only	14.79¢
Utility delivery for customers of a supplier: delivery only	17.88¢

Supplier (ESCO) customers in New York paid an average of 14.79¢ per kWh for supply alone in 2025; their utilities billed them an average of 17.88¢ per kWh for delivery; homes on full utility service paid 25.92¢ per kWh¹ for both together.

For the current supply price, use the utility's Price to Compare, which state commissions publish where they exist. The Illinois Commerce Commission's figure for ComEd was 10.103¢ per kWh for November 2026, against 9.689¢ per kWh³ for the same month a year earlier, covering supply and transmission. The Price to Compare guide explains how to use it.

How delivery charges changed from 2024 to 2025

Delivery charges are not fixed in time; they change when the commission approves a new rate or a surcharge. From 2024 to 2025, delivery-only revenue per kWh changed by +32.4% at Central Maine Power, +23.3% at Eversource in Massachusetts, +21.4% at Pepco in the District of Columbia, +15.3% at PSE&G in New Jersey and +18.2% at NYSEG in New York. Elsewhere it moved the other way: −7.2% at JCP&L, −4.6% at AEP Ohio and −4.5% at PG&E. In Texas the change was +8.7% at Oncor and +9.7%¹ at CenterPoint.

LBNL's review names some of the causes for particular utilities: a storm-cost surcharge at Central Maine Power, a surcharge for securitized storm costs at NYSEG starting in 2025, higher New England transmission costs in 2025, and lower wildfire-mitigation costs at PG&E that moderated California prices (LBNL 2026). Because these averages cover only homes that shop, a change in who shops or how much they use can also move them.

Can you lower the delivery charge?

Not by changing supplier. Pennsylvania's shopping site puts it simply: when you shop, distribution service stays with your local utility (PAPowerSwitch), and Maryland's commission says the delivery-related charges do not change when you choose another supplier (Maryland Electric Choice). What does change it:

• Using fewer kWh. Most delivery charges are billed per kWh, so they fall with use. The monthly customer charge does not; the fixed charges guide covers it.
• A rate decision. New delivery rates go through the state commission in a public proceeding; the rate case guide follows one from filing to bill.
• Help with the bill. LIHEAP and utility assistance programs are covered in help paying your electric bill.

Texas works differently. In the competitive areas, homes get one bill from their retail provider, which passes the delivery utility's (TDU's) charges through, and the state rule on plan disclosures lets even a fixed-price plan change to reflect actual changes in TDU charges (16 TAC §25.475). The Oncor and CenterPoint pages show each TDU's figures.

Check your own bill in four steps

1. Find the supply section and the delivery section, and note which one includes transmission.
2. Divide each section's dollars by the kWh on the bill. That gives your own supply and delivery cost per kWh for the month, fixed charges included.
3. Set your supply cost per kWh against your utility's current Price to Compare or default-service price, both covering the same lines. A supplier's offer should be compared with that, not with the whole bill.
4. Compare your delivery cost per kWh with the same month a year earlier. If it rose while your use did not, the utility's delivery rates or surcharges changed; the utility or the state commission can say which.