U.S. households pay a median of $363 per month, or $4,356 per year, in utility bills. Representing around 5% of annual household income, utility bills are up by nearly 5% compared to 2025, exceeding the 3.4% inflation for the 12-month period ended August 2026.
These essential household expenses are unavoidable, but what if there were a way to pay your utility bill with proceeds from utility stocks? For example, how many shares in NextEra Energy (NEE -0.60%) would you need to earn enough dividends to pay the bill?
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How many NextEra shares would cover your utility bill?
NextEra Energy has a forward dividend yield of 3.27%. The stock's quarterly cash dividend is 62.32 cents per share, or $2.49 per share annually. So, how many NextEra shares would you need to cover utilities?
NYSE: NEE
Key Data Points
First, to account for the 15% qualified dividend tax rate, let's take the annual median utility spending, $4,356, and divide it by 0.85. To cover both dividend taxes and the utility bills, a household would need around $5,124.70 in annual dividend income from a NextEra position. Next, divide that figure by the annual cash dividend amount. This works out to around 2,058 shares, which at today's prices comes out to $156,572.
Why this utility stock can keep you ahead of rising utility prices
NextEra is far from the highest-yielding utility stock, but the company, which is the parent of Florida Power & Light and one of the largest owners of renewable energy infrastructure in the U.S., has a long track record of dividend growth. NextEra has raised payouts for 32 consecutive years. In recent years, dividend growth has averaged around 10%.
Hence, with utility prices, especially electricity prices, rising faster than overall inflation, that same 2,058-share position in NextEra could cover your utility bills for years, if not decades to come. That said, management has already guided for dividend growth of just 6% over the next two years. It's also unclear how NextEra's pending merger with Dominion Energy will affect dividend growth during 2028 and beyond.
