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Cheap Electricity Report: Electricity Prices by State for All Sectors

jeff — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:02:10 +0000

The following table ranks the electricity prices averaged across all sectors for each state, plus the District of Columbia, from the cheapest electricity to most expensive. You can also find tables ranking the states according to prices of:

All of these tables are based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration for September 2009. I hope that this is useful in your quest to find cheap electricity. Don’t forget to check out our guide to finding the cheapest electricity supplier!

Rank	State	Cents per kWh
1	Wyoming	6.05
2	Idaho	6.45
3	West Virginia	6.55
4	Kentucky	6.63
5	North Dakota	6.79
6	Washington	6.89
7	Utah	6.93
8	Montana	7.27
8	Nebraska	7.27
10	South Dakota	7.29
11	Oklahoma	7.33
12	Louisiana	7.41
13	Missouri	7.47
14	Oregon	7.55
15	Iowa	7.60
16	Indiana	7.61
17	Arkansas	7.95
18	Colorado	8.25
18	Minnesota	8.25
20	New Mexico	8.26
21	Kansas	8.29
22	South Carolina	8.39
23	North Carolina	8.60
24	Tennessee	8.66
25	Mississippi	8.88
26	Alabama	8.95
27	Georgia	8.99
28	Virginia	9.08
29	Ohio	9.11
30	Illinois	9.23
31	Wisconsin	9.49
32	Pennsylvania	9.65
33	Arizona	9.67
34	Michigan	9.74
35	Texas	10.34
36	Nevada	10.45
37	Florida	11.52
38	Delaware	12.21
39	Vermont	12.79
40	Maine	13.00
41	Maryland	13.29
42	California	13.78
43	District of Columbia	13.90
44	Rhode Island	14.07
45	New Jersey	15.03
46	Alaska	15.08
47	New Hampshire	15.37
48	Massachusetts	15.71
49	New York	16.08
50	Connecticut	17.50
51	Hawaii	20.47

Cheap Electricity Report: Industrial Electricity Prices by State

jeff — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:55:35 +0000

The following table ranks the industrial electricity prices for each state, plus the District of Columbia, from cheapest to most expensive. You can also find tables that rank the states by:

residential electricity prices
business electricity prices
electricity prices averaged over all sectors

All of these tables are based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration for September 2009. I hope that this is useful in your quest to find cheap electricity. You might also want to check out our guide to finding the cheapest electricity supplier!

Rank	State	Cents per kWh
1	Wyoming	4.81
2	Utah	4.90
3	Kentucky	4.99
4	Oklahoma	5.10
5	West Virginia	5.20
6	Washington	5.25
7	Oregon	5.26
8	Idaho	5.31
9	Iowa	5.38
9	Montana	5.38
11	Louisiana	5.53
12	Missouri	5.57
13	South Dakota	5.66
14	North Dakota	5.81
15	Indiana	5.82
15	Nebraska	5.82
17	New Mexico	5.83
17	South Carolina	5.83
19	North Carolina	6.02
20	Arkansas	6.07
21	Alabama	6.17
22	Colorado	6.25
23	Kansas	6.27
24	Georgia	6.29
25	Minnesota	6.42
26	Arizona	6.68
27	Mississippi	6.72
27	Tennessee	6.72
29	Wisconsin	6.83
30	Ohio	6.89
31	Virginia	6.93
32	Texas	7.14
33	Pennsylvania	7.22
34	Michigan	7.30
35	Illinois	7.62
36	Nevada	8.31
37	Delaware	9.31
38	Florida	9.39
39	Vermont	9.41
40	Maryland	10.05
41	Maine	10.18
42	District of Columbia	10.32
43	California	10.46
44	New York	10.89
45	Massachusetts	11.60
46	New Jersey	11.64
47	Rhode Island	12.61
48	Alaska	12.97
49	New Hampshire	13.76
50	Connecticut	15.10
51	Hawaii	17.41

Cheap Electricity Report: Business Electricity Prices by State

jeff — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:52:34 +0000

The following table ranks the commercial or business electricity prices for each state, plus the District of Columbia, from the cheapest electricity to the most expensive. Look at the table below to find states with cheap business electricity, or the tables linked below that rank the states according to:

residential electricity prices
industrial electricity prices
electricity prices averaged over all sectors

All of these tables are based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration for September 2009. I hope that this is useful in your quest to find cheap electricity. Please also see our advice on finding the cheapest electricity supplier!

Rank	State	Cents per kWh
1	Idaho	6.48
2	West Virginia	6.65
3	North Dakota	6.79
4	South Dakota	6.94
5	Washington	7.05
6	Missouri	7.08
7	Utah	7.14
8	Oklahoma	7.15
9	Wyoming	7.24
10	Nebraska	7.36
11	Kentucky	7.69
12	Iowa	7.73
13	Arkansas	7.81
13	Oregon	7.81
15	Minnesota	7.97
16	Louisiana	8.04
16	North Carolina	8.04
18	Colorado	8.08
19	Kansas	8.19
20	Virginia	8.21
21	Montana	8.23
22	Indiana	8.25
23	Illinois	8.37
24	New Mexico	8.54
25	South Carolina	8.71
26	Georgia	9.02
27	Arizona	9.40
28	Mississippi	9.51
28	Tennessee	9.51
30	Pennsylvania	9.60
31	Wisconsin	9.62
32	Michigan	9.64
33	Ohio	9.67
34	Texas	9.92
35	Alabama	10.08
36	Nevada	10.37
37	Florida	10.85
38	Delaware	12.02
39	Maryland	12.18
40	Maine	12.61
41	Vermont	12.85
42	Rhode Island	13.36
43	California	14.06
44	District of Columbia	14.12
45	Alaska	14.48
46	New Jersey	14.55
47	New Hampshire	14.99
48	New York	15.55
49	Connecticut	15.88
50	Massachusetts	17.90
51	Hawaii	21.09

Cheap Electricity Report: Residential Electricity Prices by State

jeff — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:45:26 +0000

The following table ranks the residential electricity prices for each state, plus the District of Columbia, from the cheapest electricity to the most expensive. The links below go to tables that rank the states by:

business electricity prices
industrial electricity prices
electricity prices averaged across all sectors

All of these tables are based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration for September 2009. I hope that this is useful in your quest to find cheap electricity. You may also wish to look at our guide to finding the cheapest electricity supplier!

Rank	State	Cents per kWh
1	Idaho	7.62
2	North Dakota	7.63
3	Washington	7.78
3	West Virginia	7.78
5	Kentucky	8.39
6	South Dakota	8.44
7	Louisiana	8.46
8	Wyoming	8.51
9	Nebraska	8.58
10	Missouri	8.63
11	Utah	8.65
12	Oregon	8.76
13	Oklahoma	8.80
14	Montana	8.87
15	Tennessee	9.31
16	Indiana	9.43
17	Arkansas	9.56
18	Kansas	9.78
19	Colorado	9.92
20	Minnesota	10.10
20	Mississippi	10.10
22	North Carolina	10.13
23	New Mexico	10.19
24	Iowa	10.27
24	South Carolina	10.27
26	Georgia	10.32
27	Alabama	10.64
28	Ohio	10.70
29	Virginia	10.74
30	Arizona	10.86
31	Illinois	11.39
32	Pennsylvania	11.72
33	Michigan	11.85
34	Wisconsin	12.10
35	Florida	12.35
36	Nevada	12.74
37	Texas	12.76
38	District of Columbia	13.53
39	Delaware	14.07
40	Vermont	15.00
41	Maryland	15.18
42	California	15.19
43	Maine	15.42
44	Rhode Island	15.52
45	New Hampshire	16.44
46	New Jersey	16.62
47	Alaska	17.24
48	Massachusetts	17.39
49	New York	18.42
50	Connecticut	20.24
51	Hawaii	23.48

Cheap Electricity Report: Electricity Prices by State

jeff — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:03:34 +0000

Not everyone lives in a place where electricity suppliers compete in deregulated electricity markets, so it is possible that your only option may be to move to someplace with cheaper electricity. To get an idea of how much electricity prices vary from state to state, take a look at this table that ranks the states by electricity prices averaged across all sectors. You can also find tables that that will rank the states by prices for residential electricity, business electricity, and industrial electricity.

The state with the cheapest electricity, averaged over all sectors, is Wyoming. I would love to attribute the low electricity prices to its abundant wind energy resources, but the truth is that the low prices there are mostly due to the abundance of cheap coal, which is used to produce 95% of Wyoming’s electricity. Ditto for numbers 3 through 5 on the list, West Virginia, Kentucky, and North Dakota, which all get at least 93% of their electricity from coal. As a huge advocate for renewable energy, I’m starting to get depressed by this list!

Things get a bit better when we look at number 2, Idaho, which gets 79% of its electricity from hydropower, and less than 1% from coal. It is true that abundant hydropower resources also tend to result in cheap electricity prices, so, if you want cheap power from a renewable energy source, look for a state with lots of hydropower. Other examples are Washington (6th cheapest electricity, 74% from hydropower), South Dakota (10th cheapest, 48% from hydropower), and Oregon (14th cheapest, 61% from hydropower).

However, it is true that the rest of the top 15 have coal as their largest electricity source, with one exception: Louisiana. Louisiana gets only 25% of its electricity from coal, while 47% comes from natural gas and 18% comes from nuclear power. I can’t explain why Louisiana has such cheap electricity, but I can say that natural gas has a smaller carbon footprint per kilowatt-hour of electricity, which is a plus for those of you who care about global warming!

Before we leave the subject of electricity prices by state, let’s consider which states have the most expensive electricity. On the top of that list is Hawaii, which produces 77% of its electricity from very expensive, imported petroleum. I grew up in Hawaii, and I promise you that it is a beautiful place to live, but don’t go looking for cheap electricity (or anything else cheap, for that matter) there! Besides Hawaii, a lot of states in the Northeast have relatively expensive electricity; they tend to get a small percentage of their electricity from coal, and more from natural gas or nuclear power. Alaska (6th most expensive) and California (10th most expensive) also have relatively expensive electricity, with most coming from natural gas. I am not saying that high electricity prices are a bad thing, but, if your goal is to find cheap electricity, these are not the states that you want to move to.