Berkshire Hathaway’s Big Utility Business Could Be Worth Close to $100 Billion
Key Points
About This Summary

Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a major utility, earned $4.1 billion after taxes in 2025 and plans $33 billion in capital expenditures.
Berkshire Hathaway Energy is a large wind power operator, investing $45 billion in renewables and retaining all earnings.
Wildfire litigation losses at PacifiCorp were $75 million in 2025, down from $1.3 billion in 2023, impacting valuation.
Berkshire Hathaway
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Energy is one of the three most important divisions of Berkshire Hathaway along with its railroad and insurance operations and it could be worth close to $100 billion.

The company is one of the largest utilities in the country with franchises in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest, plus operations in the U.K. It’s a leading producer of wind power. It also owns a group of valuable natural-gas pipelines and a top real estate brokerage business, HomeServices of America. Berkshire Hathaway Energy recently rele ased an annual slide deck running 132 pages on the Berkshire Hathaway website that provides a lot of information on the low-profile company that probably would be a top five utility in the country by market value if it were publicly traded. There is no publicly traded stock in Berkshire Hathaway Energy with Berkshire owning 100% of the business.

Here are some highlights. The company earned $4.1 billion after taxes in 2025, down from $4.3 billion in 2024. It has $54 billion of shareholder equity and $57 billion of debt. It plans to spend about $33 billion on capital expenditures from 2026 to 2028. Revenues were $26 billion in 2025 including $4 billion at its real estate brokerage unit.

Its returns are low relative to public peers with a return on equity of about 7% last year against closer to 12% for Duke Power, NextEra Energy and Southern Co. Its marginally profitable real estate brokerage business is a contributor to its lower returns.

The utility is the only major Berkshire unit to put out an investor presentation. Why? Because the company is a large borrower, and it apparently wants to provide color as well as basic financials like 10-K reports to potential bond buyers. Berkshire Hathaway Energy recently rele ased an annual slide deck running 132 pages on the Berkshire Hathaway website that provides a lot of information on the low-profile company that probably would be a top five utility in the country by market value if it were publicly traded. There is no publicly traded stock in Berkshire Hathaway Energy with Berkshire owning 100% of the business.

Here are some highlights. The company earned $4.1 billion after taxes in 2025, down from $4.3 billion in 2024. It has $54 billion of shareholder equity and $57 billion of debt. It plans to spend about $33 billion on capital expenditures from 2026 to 2028. Revenues were $26 billion in 2025 including $4 billion at its real estate brokerage unit.

Its returns are low relative to public peers with a return on equity of about 7% last year against closer to 12% for Duke Power, NextEra Energy and Southern Co. Its marginally profitable real estate brokerage business is a contributor to its lower returns.

The utility is the only major Berkshire unit to put out an investor presentation. Why? Because the company is a large borrower, and it apparently wants to provide color as well as basic financials like 10-K reports to potential bond buyers.