The State of Utilities 2026 report

Introduction

EnergyCAP has spent four decades in the trenches of utility management, and we’ve supported thousands of organizations as costs, complexity, and scrutiny have climbed.

For our 2026 State of Utilities study, we surveyed hundreds of professionals to understand how organizations are planning, managing, and defending utility spend in a volatile year.

The results are revealing. We found an industry full of resilience: teams that see the value of their data and matured their energy management programs. At the same time, challenges are growing. Utility costs are climbing, budget certainty is slipping as they increase, and many organizations need stronger tools and more buy-in, all while being asked to do more with less.

One theme stands out across the dataset: executives often view energy management very differently than the energy, facilities, and finance teams doing the work day-to-day. In this report, we share the key insights and takeaways from the study to help teams close that gap and move forward with confidence.

Utility costs are rising across every industry, region, and organization type

Rising utility costs, and resulting budget increases, are the single most universal finding in the survey. Three-quarters of all respondents are seeing budgets increase, many in the double digits. Less than 5% of respondents are experiencing a downward trend. This cuts across every sector, organization size, and geography.

This backdrop isn’t surprising. Energy prices are rising at twice the rate of inflation, climbing to their highest level in more than two decades. Infrastructure constraints, extreme weather, and the rising energy demand of AI are adding new pressure to an already tight system.

The net effect: energy management gets judged through a financial lens via budget impact, forecast variance, and ROI proof of projects, tools, and investments. Energy, sustainability, and facilities teams are expected to speak the language of finance, but it’s equally critical to educate other teams about the importance of usage, benchmarking, and project metrics.

Confidence is mixed, and 100% certainty is the outlier

Across budgeting, goal confidence, and overall strategy, responses cluster in the middle. A meaningful share of respondents report strong uncertainty, most feel “okay”, and a small group reports complete certainty across multiple measures.

Growing uncertainty is expected with energy costs rising at unprecedented rates, even for organizations with strong teams and tools. Volatility doesn’t just raise expenses, it introduces more variance into planning and makes “confidence” harder to claim.

Small teams and toolkits are taking on big goals

Energy management teams are structurally lean. These small teams are simultaneously expected to control costs, reduce consumption, prove success to leadership, and keep data audit-ready, all while navigating tightening budgets and increasing complexity. It’s no surprise that bandwidth shows up as a top blocker across both customers and non-customers, pointing to a structural constraint, not just a staffing issue.

Small teams still drive big outcomes when they rally around shared data and accessible insights. In practice, team growth and tool adoption tend to reinforce each other: once an organization commits to energy management as a program, the data becomes the uniting instrument that brings facilities, finance, and leadership into the work, often unlocking more resources over time.

Goals and blockers reveal the real divide: everyone wants cost control, but teams get stuck in different places

In 2026, the headline stays consistent: cost control sits at the center of energy management for everyone. “Find and fix waste faster” also lands near the top across the board, signaling a shift toward continuous performance management.

After those shared priorities, the paths diverge. Non-customers lean into forecasting and leadership visibility, which points to a foundational need: defensible numbers and clearer reporting to support budgets and planning. EnergyCAP customers prioritize the metrics that identify the biggest drivers of consumption and cost, especially EUI/use intensity, suggesting they’re further along in translating data into outcomes and targets.

Blockers mirror that split. Bandwidth hits everyone, but the “why” differs: customers often know what to fix next and get stalled at budget approval for ECMs, while external respondents are still building the foundation—more complete data and dedicated internal resources to run the program at all.

Key findings:

Top goals

• EnergyCAP customers prioritize the key metric in reducing consumption and cost, intensity/EUI reduction, at 4x the rate of non-customers.
• Controlling or reducing utility spend ranks as the #1 goal across both EnergyCAP customers and non-customers
• “Find and fix waste faster” is a top-three goal for everyone
• From there, priorities split: non-customers need better forecasting and leadership visibility, while EnergyCAP customers prioritize metrics that surface the biggest drivers of consumption and cost

Blockers

• Bandwidth constraints show up as a top-three blocker for everyone, along with cross-team alignment farther down
• Customers prioritize budget needs for the ECMs they want to pursue
• External respondents need the basics: more and better data, and dedicated internal energy management resources to launch or run their program

Measures of success: The best programs track dollars and kWh

Across both groups, the same three KPIs rise to the top: Usage, Total Utility Spend, and Spend vs. Budget variance, just in a different order. From there, the scorecards diverge. EnergyCAP customers track a broader mix that includes benchmarking and project performance, while non-customers stay largely finance-first.

That split signals opportunity on both sides. Financial metrics communicate outcomes and risk in the language leadership expects. On the other hand, usage and benchmarking metrics explain why costs move and reveal the operational levers that actually control utility costs—the #1 energy management goal this year.

In conclusion: finding your tribe

Rising utility costs, lean teams, and mixed budget confidence are forcing a shift: energy management gets measured by financial outcomes, but the biggest levers still show up in usage and performance. One of the fastest ways to make progress in a volatile year is to build your tribe: peers, mentors, and communities that share what’s working, pressure-test plans, and help you earn internal buy-in. The strongest programs connect dollars and kWh, and they don’t do it alone.

These are some of our favorites:

• Eco Champions. EnergyCAP’s free community, for customers and non-customers alike, for peer sharing, idea exchange, mentorship, practical advice, and training
• APPA. Robust Higher-ed facilities network focused on campus operations, utilities, and best-practice exchange. Connect with peers at every level, learn through training online and in-person classes, and join a regional group for tailored connections and local events
• IDEA. District energy community for technical guidance, benchmarking, and operator-to-operator insights
• AEE. Formal Energy Management certification and coursework, and a professional community for energy and facilities leaders

Resources

• Weather Data Depot – Free utility data normalization support
• ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® – Free building benchmarking
• ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® Data Explorer – Compare against 150k+ buildings
• EnergyCAP Utility Bill Increase Calculator – Free budget estimate tool
• EIA electricity price outlook – Price trends and forecasts
• DOE data center/AI demand report