Average Electric Bill

A curated resource for journalists & consumers on the latest data on the average electric bill in the United States. Last updated: February 2020.

Scroll down or click the following links to find state-by-state data on the average electricity bill, average electricity price and average electricity consumption.

Average Electricity Bill By State

• The state with the highest monthly average electricity bill is Hawaii, clocking in at an average of $168.13/month.
• The state with the lowest monthly average electricity bill is Utah, clocking in at an average of $77.25/month.

Although the average monthly electric bill in the United States clocks in at $117.65, the difference between certain states can vary greatly. Below is a table of each state’s average electricity bill, sorted from highest to lowest.

Over half of the states have electricity bills that are more expensive than the national average. The states with high electricity bills tend to use less electricity than their cheaper counterparts. For example, Hawaii’s electricity bills cost 42.9% more than the national average ($117.65), yet Hawaii uses 43.3% less electricity than the national average (914).

To gather a more accurate picture about how much each state spends on electricity, it’s important to look at how much electricity each state consumes on a monthly basis.

Average Electricity Price by State

• Louisiana has the cheapest electricity out of any state, with each kilowatt hour costing only 9.59 cents.
• Hawaii has the most expensive electricity out of any state, with each kilowatt hour costing 32.47 cents.
• The average price of electricity throughout all 50 states is 12.87 cents per kilowatt hour.
• States with the lowest electricity consumption tend to have higher-priced electricity, whereas states with higher electricity consumption have cheaper electricity rates.

The table below shows the state-by-state breakdown of the average price electricity per kilowatt hour (kWh) and compares it to the national average price of $12.87 cents / kWh (i.e. “+25.5%” means 25.5% more expensive than the national average).

States like Hawaii, which consume less electricity than the national average, tend to have more expensive electricity. On the other hand, states that use more electricity than average have cheaper electricity. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, but this rule stays true for most of the states.

Now it’s time to look at the other side of the equation: the average price of electricity in each state.

Average Electricity Consumption By State

• Hawaii consumes the least amount of electricity per month, only consuming 518 kilowatt hours per month.
• Tennessee consumes the most electricity per month, with a staggering 1,283 kilowatts hours per month.
• The overall national average of electricity consumption in the United States is 914 kilowatt hours per month.

The table below shows the state-by-state breakdown of the average monthly consumption of electricity in kilowatt hours (kWh).

Some of the states with the least electricity consumption have higher electricity rates, and the states with the most electricity consumption carry some of the lowest electricity rates.

Now, with all the information about the prices of electricity and electricity consumption listed out, we can take note of how much people spend on electricity relative to their income.

Average Electric Bill by State Relative to Income

• Mississippi pays the most for electricity relative to income, with 3.96% of the state’s average monthly income ($3,500.75) going towards electricity.
• Utah pays the least for electricity relative to income, with only 1.42% of the state’s average monthly income ($5,443.75) going towards electricity.

To determine the percentage of income people spend on electricity, we took the average monthly income of each state, and compared it to the average monthly bill of that state (the first table of this page) as a percentage of monthly income.

For the sake of simplicity, we won’t be listing out the average monthly bill amounts, since we already did that the beginning. If you’d like to cross-reference, you can simply use that table, but the upcoming table will be listing average monthly income and the percentage of income for electricity.

As you can see from the table, the monthly income of each state doesn’t have much of an effect when it comes to how much residents spend on electricity. What you can see, however, is that the states with the least amount of consumption tend to spend a bit more on electricity, since electricity is more expensive in those states.

With this table, it’s clear to see what states are spending on electricity every month, and while the results seem mixed (states with low consumption pay more, states with high consumption pay less, etc.), we can draw conclusions from the few tables we have here.