Top Utilities Stocks by Net Margin
Top utilities companies ranked by net margin, latest annual filings.
What Net Margin Means for Utilities Companies
Net margin in utilities is shaped more by regulatory framework than by market pricing. Regulated electric, gas, and water utilities recover prudent operating and fuel costs through rates set by public commissions and earn an authorized return on the invested rate base. That structure produces net margins that tend to cluster in a relatively narrow and predictable band compared with most sectors, punctuated by occasional items tied to weather, storm costs, or regulatory-lag recoveries.
Why It Matters Less in Utilities
A utility's net margin is a secondary output of a system optimized around rate-base growth and authorized return on equity, not a primary competitive signal. Still, variation across utilities can reflect genuine execution quality or differences in service territory economics. It is worth noting that weather normalization, storm-recovery timing, and allowed-return filings can move utility net margin meaningfully in specific years without reflecting any structural change in the business.
What to Read Alongside
Pair net margin with Revenue to see rate-base scale, Operating Margin for the pre-interest view, and Return on Equity because authorized ROE is the metric the entire regulatory framework is actually designed to deliver.
| # | Symbol | Company | Sector | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ATO | Atmos Energy Corporation | Utilities | 25.49% | $29.27B |
| 2 | NEE | NextEra Energy, Inc. | Utilities | 24.93% | $182.36B |
| 3 | WTRG | Essential Utilities, Inc. | Utilities | 24.91% | $13.02B |
| 4 | EIX | Edison International | Utilities | 23.08% | $22.84B |
| 5 | SWX | Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. | Utilities | 22.67% | $6.62B |
| 6 | SBS | Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP | Utilities | 22.21% | $16.96B |
| 7 | AWK | American Water Works Company, Inc. | Utilities | 21.61% | $29.92B |
| 8 | LNT | Alliant Energy Corporation | Utilities | 18.57% | $18.85B |
| 9 | NGG | National Grid plc | Utilities | 18.32% | $83.60B |
| 10 | D | Dominion Energy, Inc. | Utilities | 18.16% | $60.34B |
| 11 | IDA | IDACORP, Inc. | Utilities | 17.84% | $8.63B |
| 12 | PEG | Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated | Utilities | 17.35% | $36.20B |
| 13 | AEE | Ameren Corporation | Utilities | 16.55% | $31.24B |
| 14 | NJR | New Jersey Resources Corporation | Utilities | 16.48% | $5.51B |
| 15 | AEP | American Electric Power Company, Inc. | Utilities | 16.36% | $68.90B |
| 16 | WEC | WEC Energy Group, Inc. | Utilities | 15.90% | $38.12B |
| 17 | DUK | Duke Energy Corporation | Utilities | 15.41% | $99.63B |
| 18 | FTS | Fortis Inc. | Utilities | 14.78% | $31.00B |
| 19 | SO | The Southern Company | Utilities | 14.69% | $107.51B |
| 20 | OGE | OGE Energy Corp. | Utilities | 14.44% | $10.47B |
| 21 | EVRG | Evergy, Inc. | Utilities | 14.35% | $20.53B |
| 22 | NI | NiSource Inc. | Utilities | 14.25% | $21.18B |
| 23 | XEL | Xcel Energy Inc. | Utilities | 13.76% | $51.14B |
| 24 | ETR | Entergy Corporation | Utilities | 13.58% | $52.82B |
| 25 | SRE | Sempra | Utilities | 13.41% | $51.13B |
| 26 | PPL | PPL Corporation | Utilities | 13.06% | $26.94B |
| 27 | BKH | Black Hills Corporation | Utilities | 12.62% | $6.49B |
| 28 | CMS | CMS Energy Corporation | Utilities | 12.54% | $21.70B |
| 29 | ES | Eversource Energy | Utilities | 12.49% | $26.31B |
| 30 | EMA | Emera Incorporated | Utilities | 12.41% | $15.62B |
| 31 | ED | Consolidated Edison, Inc. | Utilities | 11.96% | $44.00B |
| 32 | ENIC | Enel Chile S.A. | Utilities | 11.92% | $6.00B |
| 33 | CWEN | Clearway Energy, Inc. | Utilities | 11.83% | $7.00B |
| 34 | PNW | Pinnacle West Capital Corporation | Utilities | 11.55% | $12.63B |
| 35 | CIG | Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais - CEMIG | Utilities | 11.45% | $5.32B |
| 36 | EXC | Exelon Corporation | Utilities | 11.41% | $47.21B |
| 37 | CNP | CenterPoint Energy, Inc. | Utilities | 11.24% | $26.95B |
| 38 | NWE | NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. | Utilities | 11.24% | $5.09B |
| 39 | SR | Spire Inc. | Utilities | 10.97% | $5.25B |
| 40 | BIP | Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. | Utilities | 10.96% | $18.15B |
| 41 | PCG | PG&E Corporation | Utilities | 10.40% | $28.57B |
| 42 | ELPC | Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL | Utilities | 10.29% | $7.94B |
| 43 | MDU | MDU Resources Group, Inc. | Utilities | 10.15% | $3.92B |
| 44 | AVA | Avista Corporation | Utilities | 9.83% | $3.37B |
| 45 | UGI | UGI Corporation | Utilities | 9.30% | $7.94B |
| 46 | DTE | DTE Energy Company | Utilities | 9.24% | $28.12B |
| 47 | CEG | Constellation Energy Corporation | Utilities | 9.08% | $88.56B |
| 48 | KEP | Korea Electric Power Corporation | Utilities | 8.85% | $14.38B |
| 49 | NWN | Northwest Natural Holding Company | Utilities | 8.79% | $2.18B |
| 50 | POR | Portland General Electric Company | Utilities | 8.56% | $5.47B |
| 51 | EDN | Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte Sociedad Anónima | Utilities | 8.04% | $616.48M |
| 52 | AES | The AES Corporation | Utilities | 7.44% | $10.61B |
| 53 | RNW | ReNew Energy Global Plc | Utilities | 7.44% | $2.53B |
| 54 | SPH | Suburban Propane Partners, L.P. | Utilities | 7.44% | $1.15B |
| 55 | AQN | Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. | Utilities | 7.43% | $4.25B |
| 56 | TXNM | TXNM Energy, Inc. | Utilities | 7.01% | $6.41B |
| 57 | FE | FirstEnergy Corp. | Utilities | 6.76% | $26.88B |
| 58 | VST | Vistra Corp. | Utilities | 5.32% | $42.51B |
| 59 | HE | Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. | Utilities | 4.09% | $1.46B |
| 60 | NRG | NRG Energy, Inc. | Utilities | 2.81% | $18.56B |
| 61 | CTRI | Centuri Holdings, Inc. | Utilities | 0.75% | $2.06B |
No companies match this search.
Net margin is GAAP net income divided by revenue, so one-time gains and tax benefits count in full: a company near the top can show a net margin well above its operating margin for that year.
How this ranking is built
Companies are ranked by net margin as reported in their most recent annual filing with the SEC. Figures shown are in US dollars (or percent, as noted), rounded to two decimals.
- Source: annual 10-K / 20-F filings from companies trading on US exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX).
- Fiscal year: whichever annual period the company has most recently filed. Fiscal years don't always align with the calendar year, so the "as of FY" stamp above reflects the most common year across the table.
- Filtered out: warrants, preferred shares, and duplicate listings that share a parent company's financials.
- Size floor: A company qualifies at $1 billion in annual revenue or above, so a small filer with a freak ratio cannot top the list.
- Value range: Only figures above 0% and up to 100% qualify.
- Market cap: stated at each company's latest close, which is newer than the annual figure ranked here.
- Update cadence: refreshed as companies file new annual reports (typically within 60–90 days of fiscal year end).
Not financial advice. This is a research tool, not a recommendation.
Frequently asked questions
Why is net margin a weaker differentiator among utilities than in most sectors?
Regulated utilities operate under frameworks in which rates are set to allow cost recovery plus an authorized return on invested capital. Within that structure, competitive forces do not drive pricing and the bottom-line margin ends up reflecting accounting and regulatory mechanics more than competitive positioning. Differences across utilities in net margin can come from jurisdictional rate structures, capital intensity, and merchant exposure, but the range tends to be narrow. The metrics that actually differentiate utility quality are typically rate-base growth and authorized versus realized return on equity.
Why is return on equity more important than net margin for a utility?
The regulatory framework is explicitly designed around authorized return on equity rather than margin. A regulator grants the utility the opportunity to earn a defined percentage return on the equity invested in its rate base, and the company's job is to deploy capital efficiently to grow that base over time while earning close to the authorized return. Because the entire business is engineered around ROE, comparing utilities on that metric reflects what the sector is actually optimized for; net margin is a downstream byproduct of the same mechanics.