Tracking the US Utility Transition with Data

RMI’s Utility Transition Hub has been tracking the US energy transition since 2021. It tracks utilities’ emissions, plant additions, and plant retirements. However, it also tracks the less visible forces that really matter for future emissions, such as customer and community impacts, utility investments, state and federal policies, and more.

The finances tab on the Utility Transition Hub Data Portal visualizes assets, investments, earnings, and revenue by technology; and aggregates data with an option to filter utility type. It covers all major regulated utilities that report to FERC Form 1 — the annual financial and operating report required of regulated utilities. This tab has just been updated with data through reporting year 2024.

Here is what the data tells us:

1. Distribution assets dominate, followed by transmission, then generation: The distribution system, in aggregate, has always represented the largest asset value of the grid at around 40%. Since 2010, the distribution system has slowly increased its share, from 17% in 2010, to 27% in 2024. In doing so, transmission has overtaken generation, which the Utility Transition Hub breaks down into renewables (like wind and solar), hydro, nuclear, other fossil (primarily gas), and steam (primarily coal). Generation assets now make up less than 25% of the grid asset value stack.
2. For the first time, carbon-free generation investments have surpassed fossil fuel-based generation investments: In 2024, carbon-free power generation (primarily wind, solar, hydro and nuclear) investments reached $14.5 billion while fossil fuel-related investments for power generation were $13.9 billion, marking the first time ever that carbon-free investments surpassed fossil-based investments for major regulated utilities that report to FERC Form 1.
3. Not all resources contribute the same amount to the utility bottom line: Utility profit margins (i.e., earnings fraction of revenue) vary by technology type. In 2024, renewables had the highest profit margin, with earnings making up 58% of utility revenue from non-hydro renewables. This was followed by hydro at 20%, nuclear at 18%, “other fossil” (primarily natural gas) at 14%, and steam (primarily coal) at 10%. This is because a significant portion of revenue from fuel-based resources goes to fuel costs, which utilities don’t earn a profit on.  

Interested in learning more? Investigate and download the data yourself at https://utilitytransitionhub.rmi.org/finances/.