CEDI Annual Analysis of Iowa Utility Rates (2023)
Each year, every electric utility in Iowa files an annual report with the Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) that provides information about its operations during the preceding calendar year.
IUC staff review these annual reports and gather them into a large spreadsheet. The consolidated information for 2023 was posted on the IUC website in October 2024. (See Iowa Utilities Commission, Information from Utility Annual Report Filings)
The Clean Energy Districts of Iowa (CEDI) analyzes this consolidated information each year and produces an annual report that compares the bundled, all-in revenues per kilowatt-hour for the two investor-owned electric utilities (Alliant Energy and MidAmerican Energy) as well as Iowa’s 136 municipal electric utilities and the state’s 42 rural electric cooperatives.
Bundled revenues include all fixed monthly service charges as well as volumetric charges for energy, transmission, etc. These “all-in” revenues, generated by customer rates, are an accurate representation of average electricity rates paid within a customer class. CEDI’s analysis ranks these revenues/costs from lowest to highest for each of the three major ratepayer classes. See attached rankings (PDF).
Key Findings (2023)
Customers Served
- Iowa’s investor-owned utilities (MidAmerican and Alliant) served 72.5% of Iowa’s 1,675,813 electric utility customers
- Iowa’s customer-owned utilities (Rural Cooperatives and Municipal Utilities) served 27.4% of Iowa’s electric utility customers
- MidAmerican Energy served the largest number of Iowa’s residential and commercial customers
- Iowa’s municipal electric utilities served the largest number of industrial customers.
Rate Comparisons
- In comparison to MidAmerican Energy, Alliant’s average cost per kilowatt hour in 2023 was 62.4% higher for residential customers, 49.3% higher for commercial customers, and 26.5% higher for industrial customers.
- Alliant Energy’s cost per kilowatt hour for residential customers in 2023 was higher than every rural electric cooperative in Iowa and higher than all but two of Iowa’s 136 municipal electric cooperatives.
- MidAmerican Energy’s cost per kilowatt hour for commercial customers places it in the top ten percent of low-priced utilities, whereas Alliant’s cost placed it in the bottom third of Iowa’s 181 electric utilities.
- MidAmerican Energy (rank 8) and Alliant Energy (rank 35) had lower industrial rates than the remaining 112 municipal electric utilities and rural electric cooperatives.
It is important to note that none of these comparisons reflect Alliant’s most recent electric rate increase, which was approved by the Iowa Utilities Commission in the fall of 2024. Read further about Alliant Energy’s unusually high rates here.