Average electric bill by state: price or usage?

Where the numbers come from

The typical bill here is EIA data, nothing modeled: the state’s average residential use per customer over the last 12 months, times the average price households paid over the same months (residential revenue divided by kWh sold, so fixed charges and riders are folded in, and every utility in the state is weighted by its sales). It is the bill of the average household, which few households are exactly; your own depends on your home, your utility and your plan. The monthly bills further down use each month’s price and each calendar month’s use.

Price or usage: splitting the gap

Every state’s gap from the US bill can be split exactly into two parts: how much higher or lower its price per kWh is, and how much more or less its homes use. Comparing the two parts says which one drives the bill.

Hawaii has the highest bill, $228 a month: its price per kWh is 145% more than the US average and its homes use 41% less electricity. New Mexico has the lowest, $99: a price 15% less than the US and use 26% less. Of the 23 states with a bill above the US average, 12 are there mainly because of the price and 11 mainly because of how much their homes use.

The clearest cases are the states where price and bill point in opposite directions. In 6 states, among them Maine, District of Columbia, Vermont, Michigan, electricity costs more per kWh than the US average but the typical bill is lower, because homes use less, typically where summers are mild and heating runs on gas. In 11 others, among them Alabama, Texas, Virginia, Mississippi, the price is below average but the bill is above it: typically, long air-conditioning seasons and electric heating and water heating add up to more kWh than a low price can offset.

That is why a low price per kWh is not the same thing as a low bill, and why the most effective way to cut a bill differs by state. Where use drives it, the levers are the big loads: cooling, heating, water heating. Where price drives it, the plan matters more, which is where a time-of-use plan or a cheaper plan from the same utility can help (see is a time-of-use plan worth it?).

The month that sets the bill

A yearly average hides the month that hurts. For the US as a whole the typical bill ran from $125 in November 2025 to $212 in July 2026. The highest month fell in summer (June to September) in 36 states, where air conditioning drives use, and in winter (December to March) in 15, typically where many homes heat with electricity. The swing is widest in Arizona, where the highest month’s bill ($269, August) was 2.6 times the lowest ($102, February), followed by Nevada and Oklahoma.

Many utilities offer budget billing, which spreads the year’s expected cost into equal monthly payments and settles the difference once a year. It does not lower the bill, but in a state with a wide swing it takes the shock out of the peak month.

From the state average to your own bill

• Compare with your own use. Your bill shows your kWh for the month; set it against your state’s average use on its rates page. If you use much more, the levers are your big loads; the appliance cost calculator prices each one on your plan.
• Check your price. Divide the bill by the kWh for your all-in price and compare it with your utility’s plans: the rate plan comparator prices every plan of your utility for your use.
• Read the lines. How to read your electric bill walks through each charge, and fixed charges and minimum bills explains why a small home pays more per kWh.

Prices and use are EIA’s 12-month averages to August 2026; this page is recomputed every time EIA publishes a new month.