Delaware electricity rates & utilities
We track 1 Delaware utility and the rate cases at the Delaware Public Service Commission. You can shop your electricity supplier here — so the bill audit applies.
Delaware electricity prices by the numbers
Avg residential price
17.13¢/kWh
2025 · EIA
Change since 2019
+36%
+8% after inflation
Steepest single year
+14.7%
2022→2023
Standard Offer Service
13.69¢
Delmarva Power (Delaware)
Prices: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Real change uses U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (CPI-U).
What's driving Delaware electricity prices
Delmarva Power customers in Delaware pay a monthly 'Qualified Fuel Cell Project' surcharge on the delivery part of their bill that funds Bloom Energy fuel-cell plants, including the Red Lion Energy Center. Because the project's guaranteed price has run above wholesale market rates, the surcharge — recalculated monthly — has drawn sustained criticism from consumer advocates as an added cost to ratepayers. — Delaware Public Service Commission.
How electricity rates work in Delaware
In Delaware, Delmarva Power delivers your electricity and is regulated by the Delaware Public Service Commission (PSC). Generation is competitive — you can choose a third-party supplier or stay on the default.
The default rate is Standard Offer Service (SOS), procured by Delmarva Power under PSC oversight. The SOS Price to Compare is what you measure a supplier's offer against.
A 'rate increase' in Delaware usually comes from a distribution rate case at the PSC, a change in SOS pricing, or your own supplier contract changing.
What you can do: Compare your supplier's rate to Delmarva Power's Standard Offer Service Price to Compare. If you're paying more, you can return to SOS — usually within 1–2 billing cycles.
Who's who on your Delaware electric bill
Four different players decide what you pay. Here's each one, in plain English:
Your utility — the "distributor"
The company that owns the poles and wires and physically delivers power to your home — the name on your bill (in Delaware, one of the utilities listed below, like Delmarva Power (Delaware)). This part is a regulated monopoly: only it delivers in your area, and the DE PSC sets what it can charge for delivery. You can't shop the delivery part.
Generation — the "supply"
The electricity itself (also called supply or generation). You can buy it from your utility's default rate — the Standard Offer Service — or from a competing third-party supplier. It's the identical electricity either way; only the price differs.
PJM — the "grid operator"
The independent operator that runs the regional high-voltage grid for Delaware and 12 other states. It's like air-traffic control for electricity — it keeps enough power flowing across the whole region. Its wholesale costs flow through your utility into your bill. (More below.)
The DE PSC — the "regulator"
The Delaware Public Service Commission is the state agency that reviews and approves utility rate increases. When a utility wants to charge more, it files a "rate case" here — which is exactly what we track.
Putting it together: when you turn on a light in Delaware, the electricity was produced by power plants, routed across the region by PJM, and delivered to your house over Delmarva Power (Delaware)'s wires (your distributor). Your bill charges you for both the supply (the electricity) and the delivery (the wires). If you signed up with a third-party supplier, they set the supply price; if not, you pay your utility's Standard Offer Service. The DE PSC approves the delivery rates and oversees the default supply rate.
What is "PJM" and its "capacity market"? (plain English)
PJM is the independent operator that runs the high-voltage power grid for 13 states and Washington, D.C. — including yours. Think of it as air-traffic control for electricity: it doesn't own power plants or your wires, but it makes sure enough electricity is flowing across the whole region every second of the day. The wholesale costs PJM sets get passed through your utility into your bill.
The capacity market is a separate, once-a-year auction PJM runs. Instead of paying for electricity you use, it pays power plants just to promise they'll be ready on the few hottest or coldest days when demand peaks. That promise is called "capacity." It's like paying a backup generator a retainer to stay on standby — you pay even in months you never need it.
Why it matters now: when PJM expects demand to jump, those standby payments spike. Demand is jumping largely because of data centers, and PJM's recent capacity auctions hit record highs three times in a row. Utilities pass that cost straight to customers — which is a big reason bills across all five states we cover are rising. Sources: PJM; PJM Independent Market Monitor (Monitoring Analytics).
Delaware electricity prices over time
The average Delaware residential electricity price went from 12.55¢/kWh in 2019 to 17.13¢/kWh in 2025 — up 36%.
Delaware utilities we cover
- Delmarva Power (Delaware)
Standard Offer Service · 13.69¢/kWh
Coverage note: We track Delmarva Power, Delaware's investor-owned electric utility. We don't cover the Delaware Electric Cooperative or the state's nine municipal electric companies (such as Newark, Dover, and Milford), which set their own rates and aren't part of the retail-choice program.
Where to find your supply rate on a Delaware bill
Your utility's standard rate is the Standard Offer Service. On your bill, find the supply / generation rate in ¢/kWh and compare it to that — if a supplier charges more, you're overpaying. Here's the exact line to look for:
Where is this on my bill?
On your bill, find the supply rate in ¢/kWh. Your utility's standard rate is the “Standard Offer Service.” If your supplier charges more than that, you're overpaying.
Rate cases & increases
No active rate cases in our tracker for Delaware right now. We monitor the DE PSC dockets — get an alert when one is filed.