Five Stats That Will Change How You Think About Utility Bills

We recently surveyed 1,014 U.S. households about their utility bills. Here are five numbers that stood out.

More than one-third of customers have a negative emotional response to their bill

When we asked consumers how their utility bills make them feel, the results were striking. 35% reported a negative emotional response. 

This is a multi-faceted problem that goes beyond UX. Because when a customer dreads opening their bill, they’re much less likely to engage with any of the programs printed on it. They are also less likely to trust communications from their provider, and more likely to call for clarification, as one of the primary touchpoints between a utility and its customers, a bill, and, more importantly, its design has become a direct line to trust. Unfortunately, most bills right now are chipping away at that trust instead of building it.

Being surprised is worse than being wrong

When asked what contributes most to a negative billing experience, 63% of consumers pointed to the same thing. The thing they disliked most, by a wide margin, was being caught off guard by a higher-than-expected bill. And who can blame them? Billing errors trailed at 43% and jargon at 38%.

It isn't just a clearer design, it's also about predictability. Customers know utilities don’t have a crystal ball and can’t predict the future precisely. They're just asking not to be surprised. Adding next-bill estimates to the design helps fix that.

Customers can’t tell what they’re being billed for

Bills are stressful enough without adding confusion to the mix. But that’s exactly what 40% of utility customers are experiencing as they struggle to understand their usage, and 35% struggle with jargon, on top of that. The bill tells them what they owe, but too often not why, or it uses terms they don’t understand. When customers can't connect the dots, they are more likely to reach out to their utility for clarification, or they just wait to pay, hoping they can make sense of it.

The bill is the most-read channel that utilities aren’t using

Most utilities treat their bills as transactional documents rather than as communication tools. But our data suggests otherwise: 87% of consumers read messages printed directly on their bill — 36% always, 51% sometimes. That's a higher read rate than most email campaigns get. 

That’s a channel most utilities aren’t using. Program enrollment, payment assistance, and paperless conversion, important messages like these get pushed through less-read channels, while the bill, opened every month by nearly every customer, stays blank. 

Customers have told us exactly what they want

When asked what actually makes a bill feel good to receive, customers didn't ask for more features or more detail. 68% said the single biggest driver of a positive billing experience is simply this: being easy to understand.

That's it. Not more data, not more personalization, just clarity. It's the simplest finding in the entire survey, and maybe the most important one.

Taken together, these five statistics point in the same direction. Customers know what a good bill would look like. They've been consistent about it across income levels, regions, and age groups. The research doesn't reveal a mystery. It removes an excuse to do better.

In our next post, we'll break down exactly what a redesigned bill should prioritize, and what it should leave out.

These are just five takeaways from The Utility Bill Design Report: 2026 Consumer Insights on Clarity, Trust & the Bill Experience. 

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