Utilities 401(k) plans

Name: Median plan-paid 401(k) administrative cost per participant, utilities
Creator: 401(k) Monitor
License: https://401kmonitor.com/licence/

The median 401(k) plan at utilities paid $138.21 per participant per year in plan-paid administrative fees, computed from 387 of the 407 utilities plans published here, form year 2024.

Computed from DOL EFAST2 Form 5500 bulk data, not surveys. The 57,824 plans published so far are a subset of the 57,824 large plans in the form-year-2024 data, so this median describes the published subset, not the whole industry.

$138.21

Median plan-paid administrative cost per participant per year among 387 utilities plans with usable fee data, form year 2024.

$16.04 above the $122.17 median across all published plans.

How do utilities 401(k) fees compare?

Utilities median$138.21

All published plans$122.17

Plan size drives fees more than industry does: bigger plans pay less per head. See median fees by plan size before reading an industry gap as an industry effect.

36 of the biggest utilities 401(k) plans

The utilities plans this site submits to search engines come first, then the rest; each group is ranked by active participants. Assets are Schedule H total assets at end of plan year. Fee is plan-paid admin cost per participant. Amounts in USD.
Plan	Sponsor	Active participants	Assets	Fee ($)
The Southern Company Employee Savings Plan	Southern Company Services, Inc.	28,079	$9.3B	46.93
Duke Energy Retirement Savings Plan	Duke Energy Corporation	26,616	$11.3B	144.76
Exelon Corporation Employee Savings Plan	Exelon Corporation	20,243	$6.3B	205.87
Clean Harbors Savings And Retirement Plan	Clean Harbors Enviromental Services, Inc.	18,877	$1.2B	56.23
PG&E Corp. Retirement Savings Plan For Union-Represented Employees	PG&E Corporation	17,676	$5.0B	153.12
National Grid USA Co. Incentive Thrift Plan	National Grid USA Service Company, Inc.	17,603	$6.4B	51.35
Nextera Energy, Inc. Employee Retirement Savings Plan	Nextera Energy, Inc.	16,733	$5.5B	168.00
Aep Retirement Savings 401(k) Plan	American Electric Power Service Corporation	16,345	$5.2B	311.04
The Consolidated Edison Thrift Savings Plan	Consolidated Edison Company Of New York, Inc.	15,022	$6.4B	203.46
Constellation Employee Savings Plan	Constellation Energy Generation LLC	14,256	$6.0B	183.71
Edison 401(k) Savings Plan	Southern California Edison Company	13,749	$6.4B	286.31
Firstenergy Corp. Savings Plan	Firstenergy Corp.	12,394	$3.9B	205.83
Dominion Energy 401(k) Plan	Dominion Energy, Inc.	12,152	$4.4B	156.96
Nrg Affiliates Employee Savings Plan	Nrg Affiliate Services, Inc.	11,745	$2.3B	61.63
Usic 401(k) Savings Plan	Usic, LLC	11,502	$206.7M	39.63
Siemens Energy, Inc. Savings Plan	Siemens Energy, Inc.	11,052	$4.0B	418.03
Kinder Morgan Savings Plan	Kinder Morgan, Inc.	10,966	$2.9B	186.85
PG&E Corporation Retirement Savings Plan	PG&E Corporation	10,864	$4.9B	168.46
Eversource 401(k) Plan	Eversource Energy Service Company	10,538	$4.0B	98.64
Centerpoint Energy Savings Plan	Centerpoint Energy, Inc.	9,444	$3.1B	365.16
Savings Plan Of Entergy Corporation And Subsidiaries	Entergy Corporation	9,114	$4.4B	64.34
Ameren Corporation Savings Investment Plan	Ameren Corporation	9,085	$3.2B	230.82
Xcel Energy 401(k) Savings Plan	Xcel Energy Inc.	9,075	$3.1B	131.35
Southern California Gas Company Retirement Savings Plan	Southern California Gas Company	8,846	$3.1B	37.45
Avangrid 401(k) Plan	Avangrid Management Company, LLC	8,263	$2.6B	90.25
Consumers Energy Company Employees' Savings Plan	Consumers Energy Company	8,218	$2.9B	29.33
Nisource Inc. Retirement Savings Plan	Nisource Inc.	7,982	$2.0B	5.53
Midamerican Energy Company Retirement Savings Plan	Midamerican Energy Company	7,624	$2.0B	61.02
Veolia North America 401(k) Savings Plan	Veolia North America, LLC	7,090	$1.0B	81.31
Savs Pl For Emps Of Amer Wtr Wks Co Inc. & Its Desig Subs	American Water Works Company, Inc.	6,721	$1.4B	48.40
Salt River Project Employees' 401(k) Plan	Salt River Valley Water Users Association	6,108	$1.3B	121.15
Pacificorp K Plus Employee Savings Plan	Pacificorp	5,334	$1.8B	365.20
Atmos Energy Corporation Retirement Savings Plan And Trust	Atmos Energy Corporation	5,287	$1.1B	50.83
Dte Energy Company Savings And Stock Ownership Plan	Dte Energy Corporate Services, LLC	5,078	$2.3B	215.11
San Diego Gas & Electric Company Savings Plan	San Diego Gas & Electric Company	4,789	$2.1B	32.98
Evergy, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan	Evergy, Inc.	4,722	$1.5B	198.90

All 407 utilities plans on file are listed below by size, and every one of them is searchable from the home page.

Every Utilities plan, by size

The table above is the top of the list. These 4 pages hold all 407 plans on file in utilities, split by how many people are in them, each ranked by active participants.

Which utilities companies disclose their 401(k) match?

For these 6 employers we also read the SEC Form 11-K and extracted the match terms, matched to this industry by the plan’s EIN.

American Electric Power Company, Inc.
100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 1% of pay, then 70% of the next 5% of pay
Dominion Energy, Inc.
Could not be determined from the filing; see the source quote
Duke Energy Corporation
100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 6% of pay
NextEra Energy, Inc.
Match formula not disclosed in the filing
PG&E Corporation
75% of the first 8% of pay
Southern Company
85% of the first 6% of pay (partly disclosed)

Which employers count as utilities here?

Electric power, natural gas, water and combination utilities (codes 221100 to 221999). Sponsors here include National Grid, Consumers Energy and Kinder Morgan.

The code is the IRS principal business activity code the sponsor itself puts on Form 5500, line 2d. Medians count only plans whose Schedule H shows a positive plan-paid administrative expense (387 of 407 plans here). Plan-paid expenses exclude fund expense ratios and employer-paid bills, so every figure is a floor, not the all-in cost. Latest filing in this group received by the DOL July 23, 2026; source dataset last refreshed July 28, 2026. Full methodology

Cite this page

401(k) Monitor, “Utilities 401(k) plans: median plan-paid administrative cost per participant”, computed from DOL EFAST2 Form 5500 bulk data, form year 2024.