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LADWP Average Electricity Rate Comparison Dashboard

OPA's goal for this dashboard is to share how LADWP's average retail electricity rates compare to other California utilities as a starting point to assess LADWP's performance.

Average retail electricity rates are determined by dividing the utility's revenue by the amount of electricity it sells, using data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). This method is helpful for comparing electricity rates across utilities and to see changes in utility rates over time. The methodology section below has more details about how these rates are calculated.

These are not published rates that you pay on your bill. These average retail electricity rates should be used for making comparisons across utilities and should not be taken at face value.

The average retail electricity rates shown in this dashboard should not be used to draw conclusions about the overall affordability of a utility's electricity services. Other elements, like rate design and supporting programs, are critical to understanding the overall affordability of a utility's services and are not reflected in the dashboard.

Average Electricity Rate Comparison Methodology

Average Retail Revenue Calculation

Our office used data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to calculate average retail rates. Each year, the EIA surveys utilities and power marketers in the US to collect self-reported data about sales, operations, performance, generation, and more. For this dashboard, we relied on the analytical approach used in the 2024 Retail Electricity Price and Cost Trends report, and acknowledge the authors from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly the National Renewable Energy Laboratory or NREL).

We specifically used data from the Annual Power Industry Report (Form EIA-861) to calculate average retail rates (dollar per kilowatt-hour) for bundled service (energy generation + delivery) by dividing revenues (reported in thousands of dollars) by electricity sales (reported in megawatt-hours). We calculated the average retail rate for select utilities between 2015 and 2024 (the latest reporting year as of January 2026), by customer class (Residential, Commercial & Industrial, and Total), and by bundled service.

Inflation Adjustment

The computed average retail rates were then adjusted to 2024 dollars using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Consumer Price Index (CPI). We sought to adjust for inflation so we could understand and compare "real" changes in utility rates. Our office used the annual average CPI for all urban consumers (CPI-U) (US city average for All Items) between 2015 and 2024 using the following formula: Average Retail Rate for Year N adjusted to 2024 dollars = Average Retail Rate for Year N x (CPI-U 2024 / CPI-U year N). 

We recognize that using the CPI-U US city average may not fully capture regional variations in inflation. However, we chose the CPI-U US city average because: 1) it is broadly recognized and used; 2) it facilitates both regional and national comparisons; and 3) the CPI-U is not widely available for all regional areas.

Cost of Living Adjustment

Comparing utility rates without adjusting for regional cost-of-living differences can skew comparisons. To adjust for these differences, we used the Bureau of Economic Analysis' Regional Price Parities (RPP). The RPP is a weighted average of prices for goods and services for a typical US consumer, and is made available by metropolitan statistical areas (these areas, or MSAs, are groups of one or more counties with at least one large urban area. For example, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA consists of Los Angeles, and surrounding LA and Orange counties). 

An RPP above or below the US average (100) indicates differences in prices and ultimately the costs of living. For example, the RPP in 2024 for "All Items" for the greater Los Angeles metro area is 113.6, meaning that prices for all goods in this metro area are, on average, 13.6% higher than the US average. Conversely, the RPP for the El Paso, TX metro area is 89.9, meaning prices in the El Paso area are 10.1% lower than the US average.

We then matched MSAs and their associated RPPs to utility service territories (obtained from EIA Form 861). Because utility service territories often span multiple counties and MSAs, we calculated a weighted average RPP for each utility based on the population of the counties served by each utility. We then attributed these weights to the corresponding RPPs for the metro areas in which each county falls.

We then used the 2024 RRP for "All Items" to adjust the average retail rates (already in 2024 dollars) for cost-of-living using the following formula: Average Retail Rate for Year N in 2024 dollars and Cost of Living = Average Retail Rate in 2024 dollars for Year N x (100 / Weighted RPP for 2024). 

We recognize this approach is imperfect. For example, a utility may only serve a small portion of an MSA (which can be very large) which may skew the RPP's weighted average of a utility's service territory away from a "true" value. Or a utility may serve a high-cost city within a relatively lower cost MSA (Austin, for example), potentially underestimating actual prices for that specific utility's service territory. Nevertheless, we believe that adjusting for cost-of-living helps provide a more accurate basis for comparisons across utilities, even if the effects are small.

Key Data Sources

The data is updated on a periodic basis, so the dashboard will be updated with new data releases. Note that data sources used in intermediate data transformations are not listed below.

Dashboard Updates

Version 1.01 (March 2026)

  • Updated the Regional Price Parity figures to the February 19, 2026 release (previously the February 20, 2025 release)
  • Addition of "Total" system wide average retail rate category in the "Customer Class" filter
  • Additional functional enhancements, including mobile layout