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Electricity Rates by State, August 2026
All 50 states and DC ranked by average residential electricity price for August 2026, cheapest first. The sales-weighted national average is 18.17¢ per kWh.
| Rank | State | ¢/kWh | Year over year | Bill at 875 kWh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nevada | 12.72 | +1.4% | $111.30 |
| 2 | Louisiana | 12.87 | +2.5% | $112.61 |
| 3 | North Dakota | 13.31 | +2.6% | $116.46 |
| 3 | Utah | 13.31 | -2.3% | $116.46 |
| 5 | Idaho | 13.37 | +10.7% | $116.99 |
| 6 | Tennessee | 13.42 | +2.5% | $117.43 |
| 7 | Nebraska | 13.54 | +5.8% | $118.48 |
| 8 | Kentucky | 13.80 | +5.3% | $120.75 |
| 9 | Arkansas | 14.37 | +7.8% | $125.74 |
| 10 | Mississippi | 14.43 | +6.0% | $126.26 |
| 10 | Wyoming | 14.43 | +0.7% | $126.26 |
| 12 | Washington | 14.63 | +7.2% | $128.01 |
| 13 | Oklahoma | 14.82 | +2.8% | $129.68 |
| 14 | North Carolina | 14.95 | +2.5% | $130.81 |
| 15 | Florida | 14.99 | -2.2% | $131.16 |
| 16 | Arizona | 15.05 | -0.3% | $131.69 |
| 17 | South Dakota | 15.15 | +9.0% | $132.56 |
| 18 | Kansas | 15.47 | +5.6% | $135.36 |
| 19 | Montana | 15.57 | +9.0% | $136.24 |
| 20 | South Carolina | 15.76 | +4.0% | $137.90 |
| 21 | Georgia | 15.90 | +2.3% | $139.13 |
| 22 | Texas | 15.91 | +3.3% | $139.21 |
| 23 | Oregon | 15.92 | +0.4% | $139.30 |
| 24 | Missouri | 16.02 | +4.6% | $140.18 |
| 25 | West Virginia | 16.31 | +4.4% | $142.71 |
| 26 | Alabama | 16.33 | +0.4% | $142.89 |
| 27 | New Mexico | 16.51 | +3.3% | $144.46 |
| 28 | Indiana | 17.02 | +5.0% | $148.93 |
| 29 | Iowa | 17.06 | +10.2% | $149.28 |
| 30 | Colorado | 17.17 | +5.9% | $150.24 |
| 31 | Minnesota | 17.20 | +1.8% | $150.50 |
| 32 | Virginia | 17.64 | +11.3% | $154.35 |
| 33 | Delaware | 18.70 | +11.0% | $163.63 |
| 34 | Illinois | 19.32 | +7.2% | $169.05 |
| 35 | Ohio | 19.38 | +10.4% | $169.58 |
| 36 | Wisconsin | 19.41 | +5.3% | $169.84 |
| 37 | Maryland | 21.40 | +7.6% | $187.25 |
| 38 | Pennsylvania | 21.77 | +9.2% | $190.49 |
| 39 | Michigan | 22.99 | +10.9% | $201.16 |
| 40 | Vermont | 23.84 | +7.9% | $208.60 |
| 41 | Connecticut | 24.51 | -18.8% | $214.46 |
| 42 | New Jersey | 24.61 | -0.4% | $215.34 |
| 43 | District of Columbia | 25.98 | +12.1% | $227.33 |
| 44 | New Hampshire | 27.64 | +13.1% | $241.85 |
| 45 | Rhode Island | 28.18 | +6.2% | $246.58 |
| 46 | New York | 28.65 | +7.5% | $250.69 |
| 47 | Alaska | 29.41 | +5.8% | $257.34 |
| 48 | California | 29.75 | -3.8% | $260.31 |
| 49 | Massachusetts | 30.48 | -0.2% | $266.70 |
| 50 | Maine | 32.11 | +14.1% | $280.96 |
| 51 | Hawaii | 47.18 | +22.5% | $412.83 |
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, retail sales of electricity, August 2026. Public-domain federal data. The bill column applies the national average usage of 875 kWh a month to each state's August 2026 rate, so it compares rates at identical usage; each state page has that state's real average bill. Methodology →
By region
West
13 states, with a simple average of 19.62¢/kWh. Cheapest: Nevada (12.72¢).
South
16 states and DC, with a simple average of 16.33¢/kWh. Cheapest: Louisiana (12.87¢).
Midwest
12 states, with a simple average of 17.16¢/kWh. Cheapest: North Dakota (13.31¢).
Northeast
9 states, with a simple average of 26.87¢/kWh. Cheapest: Pennsylvania (21.77¢).
Region figures are simple averages of the state rates, each state counted once. The national figure above is weighted by sales, so the two are not directly comparable.
Why rates differ so much between states
The most expensive state, Hawaii, pays 3.7 times what the cheapest, Nevada, does for the same kilowatt-hour, and almost all of that comes down to four things:
- Generation mix. States with large hydro or nuclear fleets built decades ago have low marginal fuel costs. States that lean on imported natural gas track the gas market.
- Geography. A grid that cannot import power has no cheap alternative. That is why Hawaii, which generates most of its electricity from imported oil, sits at the top of the table by a wide margin.
- Transmission and delivery. Dense states recover network costs over many customers; sparse states spread the same poles and wires over far fewer.
- Regulation. Deregulated retail markets let customers shop for the supply part of the bill; delivery charges are the same whoever supplies the power. Whether that makes those states cheaper overall is less clear than it sounds.
Download the whole dataset
Every state, every sector and every month in one CSV — residential, commercial, industrial and all-sector, from January 2001 to August 2026, with price, revenue, sales and customer counts in each row. About 62,000 rows and 3 MB. Free to use and republish; it is US government data. If you publish anything based on it, please credit KilowattHQ with a link to this page.