Your electricity rate vs. the state average: which price to use
Cost estimates need a price per kWh. There are two places to get one: your own bill, and the statewide average published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). They answer different questions.
What the EIA state average is
EIA calculates the average retail price by dividing the revenue utilities earn from retail sales by the kilowatt-hours they sell. The result includes generation, transmission, distribution, taxes and fees.
EIA is clear about what this is not: its published prices are not utility rates. A rate is the itemized price for a specific service, such as the energy itself or delivery, and rates are set by customer type and usage. A statewide average blends many utilities and many plans.
That makes the state average a sensible starting point and a fair way to compare states. It is not what your household pays per kWh.
What is on your bill
Bills differ, but most combine some of these parts:
- Energy charge per kWh for the electricity itself.
- Delivery charges for the wires and the local grid, sometimes per kWh and sometimes a fixed amount.
- A fixed monthly charge that does not depend on how much you use.
- Taxes and fees, some of them per kWh.
- Tiers or time-of-use pricing on some plans, where the price per kWh changes with how much you use or when you use it.
Which price answers which question
| Question | Price to use |
|---|---|
| Roughly what does this appliance cost in my state? | State average, as a starting point |
| What will adding this appliance do to my bill? | The variable price: all per-kWh charges, without the fixed monthly charge |
| What do I pay per kWh on average, all in? | Total bill ÷ kWh used |
The fixed charge matters here. Suppose your bill is $150.00, including a $10.00 fixed charge, for 800 kWh.
- All-in price: $150.00 ÷ 800 = 18.75 cents per kWh
- Variable price: $140.00 ÷ 800 = 17.5 cents per kWh
An appliance that uses 30 kWh a month costs 30 × $0.175 = $5.25 at the variable price. At the all-in price it would look like $5.63, because the fixed charge does not grow when you run one more appliance. On a tiered plan, the price of the last kWh you use is the most relevant one.
How the calculators on this site treat it
Every calculator lets you pick a state, which uses the latest EIA residential average we have stored, or enter your own rate in cents per kWh. Entering your own rate always wins. The state page shows which month the average refers to.
The range across states
For July 2026, the EIA residential averages in our data run from 12.72 cents per kWh in Louisiana to 48.00 in Hawaii. See why electricity prices differ by state or browse all state prices.