Retail choice: where households can choose their electricity supplier

Massachusetts63.6%

Ohio58.1%

Texas55.5%

California42.1%

New Hampshire40.8%

Rhode Island25.9%

Illinois22.5%

Pennsylvania22.4%

Connecticut16.3%

United States15.1%

District of Columbia10.3%

New York7.3%

Maine7.1%

New Jersey6.1%

Delaware5.6%

Maryland4.8%

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Residential customers of energy-only suppliers and community choice aggregators (plus Texas retail electric providers) as a share of all residential customers (EIA-861 2025, EIA customer counting: bundled + energy-only + Texas retail provider accounts). Includes municipal or community aggregation where it is reported as energy-only.

Show the numbers

State	Customers with a supplier
Massachusetts	63.6%
Ohio	58.1%
Texas	55.5%
California	42.1%
New Hampshire	40.8%
Rhode Island	25.9%
Illinois	22.5%
Pennsylvania	22.4%
Connecticut	16.3%
United States	15.1%
District of Columbia	10.3%
New York	7.3%
Maine	7.1%
New Jersey	6.1%
Delaware	5.6%
Maryland	4.8%

What "deregulated" means for a household

Everywhere in the United States, one utility owns the wires that deliver electricity to your home. In most states that same utility also supplies the electricity, at prices set by the state utility commission. In a retail-choice state, the supply part is open: you can stay on the utility's default service (called the Price to Compare, Standard Service Offer, Basic Service or Standard Offer Service, depending on the state) or buy from a licensed supplier, while the utility keeps delivering the power and billing for delivery.

Texas works differently. In the competitive part of the state (most of it, but not the El Paso area, the Panhandle and South Plains, the Entergy Texas and SWEPCO areas in the east, or the areas served by city utilities and most cooperatives), there is no utility supply at all: every household picks a retail electric provider, which bills energy and delivery together and pays the local delivery utility.

California allows households to switch only through community choice aggregation: cities and counties buy power for their residents, who are enrolled automatically and can opt out. Many Massachusetts and Ohio communities do the same through municipal aggregation; those programs count in the shares below.

Measuring choice with one yardstick

State counts of "deregulated states" disagree because they mix residential and business rules, laws on the books and actual shopping. We use the utilities' own reports to EIA: the share of residential customers who actually buy from someone other than their utility. It shows 15 of the 50 states and DC at 1% or more, from Massachusetts and Ohio¹ at the top.

These shares are annual counts and can move fast. Maryland is the clearest case: the Public Service Commission's monthly enrollment reports count 275,272 residential customers buying from a supplier in December 2024 (11.6% of residential accounts) and 1,955 in September 2026 (0.08%²), so EIA's figure for the whole of 2025 describes a market that has since almost emptied.

What shoppers paid

EIA reports what each part of the market collected per kWh. Supply-only averages cover the energy part of a bill; delivery-only averages cover what the utility charged those same customers for the wires. The two cannot simply be added: they come from different groups of customers. Each state guide shows them side by side with the utility's default service, and links to the state's official comparison site, where current offers are listed.