Public power utilities earned high marks in JD Power’s latest business customer satisfaction rankings, which were released on Nov. 11.
Business customer satisfaction with the nation’s electric utilities in 2026 is underpinned by improvements in reliability and a strengthening of trust, according to the JD Power 2026 U.S. Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction StudySM, JD Power said.
Along with public power utilities, the rankings also include investor-owned utilities.
Overall satisfaction increased 1 point (on a 1,000-point scale), to 614, despite increased demand and continued economic pressure on businesses. A key component to the overall satisfaction score is the growth in trust, up 14 points compared to 2025.
“Even as electricity demand grows, business customers are seeing fewer and shorter outages. That’s an encouraging sign of progress as utilities prepare for continued growth,” said Ramah Vaughn, director of utilities intelligence at JD Power. “The improvement in outage frequency, duration and financial impact is a positive sign that reliability is moving in the right direction for business customers.”
The Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study, now in its 28th year, measures satisfaction among business customers of 80 targeted U.S. electric utilities, each of which serves more than 50,000 business customers. In aggregate, these utilities provide electricity to more than 12 million customers.
Overall satisfaction is examined across eight dimensions (listed in order of importance): total monthly cost; trust; safety & reliability; ease of doing business; people; information provided; problem resolution; and digital channels.
The 2026 study is based on responses from 19,358 online interviews of business customers in decision-making roles related to their utility company. The study was fielded from February through October 2026.
The rankings by region are based on a 1,000 point scale.
Public power utilities are represented by region as follows:
South region (midsize segment)
• Austin Energy (second spot, score: 680)
• CPS Energy (fifth spot, score: 634)
• JEA (eighth spot, score: 620)
West region (large segment)
• Salt River Project (third spot, score: 646)
West region (midsize segment)
• Seattle City Light (first spot, score: 704) (for a fifth consecutive year)
• SMUD (fourth spot, score: 630)
• LADWP (fifth spot, score: 629)
Additional details on the overall rankings are available on JD Power’s website.
