Commercial Power Prices Are Climbing Across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest—Here’s What Businesses Need to Know (and Do)

Electricity costs for commercial and industrial (C&I) customers are rising across several U.S. regions, driven by a mix of utility delivery/base-rate cases and supply-side pressures (notably PJM capacity and summer procurement resets). 

Below is a concise, region-by-region brief with direct source links you can share with your finance and facilities teams -plus practical steps to help manage the impact.

Northeast

New York

• Central Hudson (CHGE) – NY PSC approved a multi-year plan on August 14, 2025, with delivery increases stepping up through mid-2028 (commercial classes included).
  • Rate plan hub
    
    
• National Grid (Upstate / NIMO) – Three-year delivery rate plan unanimously approved August 14, 2025; applies to all classes.
  • Case hub
    
    
• Con Edison (NYC/Westchester) – Filed for 2026 delivery hikes; company guidance estimates ~11% average bill impact if approved.
  • Company release

Connecticut

• Eversource CT (business Standard Service, supply): For small commercial and industrial customers (Rate 30 & 35), the Standard Service rate increased 23% from 8.726¢/kWh to 10.710¢/kWh.
  • Business generation rates

• United Illuminating (UI) (business Standard Service and LRS): For many business classes under Standard Service, UI increased rates on Jan 1, 2025, then posted a decrease on Jul 1, 2025. LRS tariffs for larger C&I customers are published separately. 

• Delivery / Base-Rate Context (UI): Separate from supply, UI has a pending base-rate case (delivery/distribution charges). Any approved increase in delivery rates will impact business bills regardless of whether supply is from UI or a third-party supplier.
  • Local news
  
  
  

The Wider New England Region

• New Hampshire (Eversource) – July 2025 order increased fixed charges; the PUC opened rehearing Sept. 23, 2025 (business bills affected via class-specific charges).
  
  
• Massachusetts (Basic Service for Small C&I) – Small C&I basic service (default supply) resets on 6-month cycles, impacting businesses that haven’t shopped supply.
  
  
• Maine (CMP) – MPUC cases and CMP pricing pages show current/proposed delivery changes for business classes.
  • MPUC 

Mid-Atlantic

PJM capacity is the headline driver for many business bills beginning June 1, 2025 (and again from June 1, 2026 following the most recent auction).

• PJM press and report (2026/27 auction reached the $329.17/MW-day cap)
  - Release (PDF)
• Report
  

New Jersey (BGS default supply) – Effective June 1, 2025

• NJBPU certified BGS auction results; statewide average bills projected up ~17–20% depending on utility.
  • Order (PDF)
     
• PSE&G notice (supply portion ~+17%)
  
  
• JCP&L average bill ~+19.6% on default supply:
  • Explainer 

District of Columbia (Pepco – Standard Offer Service)

• The DC Public Service Commission announced SOS increases effective June 1, 2025: Small commercial customers (≤100 kW) face an average monthly bill increase of ~16.1%, and large commercial (>100 kW) ~12.1%.
  
  • DCPSC press release (PDF)
  • Order summary excerpt with class-level impacts (PDF)
  • Pepco’s current SOS tariff sheets (eff. June 1, 2025)

Pennsylvania

• PECO (Philadelphia) – Electric distribution increase effective Jan 1, 2025 (applies across classes).
  • PECO notice
    
    
• PPL Electric – Base rate filing (late 2025) shows C&I examples: small business +~$8/mo (1,000 kWh & 3 kW) and industrial +~$514/mo (150,000 kWh & 500 kW), pending PUC review.
  • Rate info
  • Local

Midwest

Illinois (Ameren & ComEd)

• Ameren Illinois (default supply) – Summer 2025 (Jun–Sep) supply price rose from ~8¢ to ~12.5¢/kWh, lifting typical bills ~18–22%; municipality and consumer-advocate notices reference ICC-filed rates.
  • O’Fallon notice (PTC reference)
  • Belleville aggregation page
  • Journal-Courier coverage
    
    
• ComEd (northern IL) – Capacity and supply adjustments increased costs beginning June 2025.
  Capacity charge updates: 
  • PTC reference

What's Driving the Increase?

• Capacity costs (PJM). Record-high capacity prices (2025/26 and 2026/27) are flowing through to retail bills, especially for demand-metered business customers with capacity tags.
  • Release (PDF)
  • Auction report
    
    
• Procurement resets (BGS/Basic Service/PTC). NJ BGS, MA Basic Service, PA PTC and IL PTC changes lifted default-supply prices for many small C&I customers who haven’t shopped.
  • NJBPU order
  • MA basic service hub
  • Ameren PTC example

• Delivery/base-rate cases. Multi-year programs funding reliability, storm hardening, and grid modernization (e.g., Central Hudson, National Grid, Xcel MN) affect delivery charges for all customer classes.
  • CHGE
  • NIMO
    
    
• Rising electricity demand—especially from AI and data centers. U.S. and PJM forecasts now assume structurally higher load growth, with data centers a key driver; IEA projects global data-center electricity use roughly doubling by 2030, and U.S. EIA sees national consumption hitting record highs in 2025–2026. PJM’s 2025 Long-Term Load Forecast and reporting point to rapid growth in data-center hubs (e.g., Dominion/Northern Virginia), which tightens capacity margins and lifts costs.
  • IEA report
    
    
• Policy rollbacks and incentive uncertainty. Efforts to scale back or modify clean-energy incentives raise financing costs and slow new supply build-out, which tends to increase delivered prices over time. Analyses of federal rollback scenarios find significantly higher system costs and worse macroeconomic outcomes; industry reporting has also tallied cancellations or downsizing of clean-energy projects amid changing incentives.
  • Energy Innovation (national IRA rollback analysis, PDF)
    

Where Catalyst Power Fits In

As energy costs rise, Catalyst Power helps businesses regain control—whether you’re on default supply or already using a competitive provider.

We offer integrated retail electricity paired with onsite clean-energy solutions such as cogeneration (CHP), solar, and energy storage. These options help businesses reduce demand charges, improve efficiency, and enhance energy resilience—all while mitigating exposure to volatile market prices. 

Contact our team to discuss how upcoming rate adjustments could affect your business and what you can do to stay ahead. We’ll help you review your current energy strategy and identify opportunities for savings.