Why is my electric bill so high? Price, usage and weather in the US data

Why is my electric bill so high? Higher prices explain more than the entire national rise since 2019

The national average bill rose $42.35 a month from 2019 to the 12 months ending August 2026. Splitting that change into a price effect and a usage effect, then splitting usage into weather and everything else, puts almost all of it on price.

EIA-861M reports revenue, kWh sales and customer counts for every state each month. Summed across the 50 states and DC, the average residential customer paid $115.49 a month in 2019 and $157.84 in the 12 months ending August 2026 (EIA-861M). Over the same span the average price rose from 13.01 to 18.04 cents per kWh, while use per customer slipped from 887.4 to 874.9 kWh a month.

Weather matters for usage, so this report fits a model of monthly kWh per customer on NOAA Climate Prediction Center population-weighted heating and cooling degree days. Each cooling degree day added 2.03 kWh per customer and each heating degree day 0.60 kWh, with an R squared of 0.936 over January 2015 to August 2026. The year 2019 was weather-heavy: 1432 cooling degree days against a 1991-2020 normal of 1332.1. In the 12 months ending August 2026 the winter was 6.3% milder than normal and the summer 5.9% hotter, which roughly cancelled out.

Utility investment costs grew more than fuel costs from 2019 to 2025

Utility accounts filed with FERC show what sits behind the price. Fuel and purchased power remain the largest cost lines, but depreciation, the annual charge for grid and plant investment, grew fastest among expenses.

EIA's Table 8.3 compiles FERC Form 1 accounts for major investor-owned utilities, using reprocessed open data from Catalyst Cooperative (EIA Electric Power Annual Table 8.3). Electric operating revenue rose 37.2% from 2019 to 2025. Fuel plus purchased power rose 32.2% and stayed near 28.7% of revenue. Depreciation rose 54.2%, transmission operation expense 38.9% and distribution operation expense 35.7%.

In dollars, electric operating revenue rose 101,908 million dollars from 2019 to 2025. Fuel and purchased power accounted for 25.8% of that rise and depreciation 18.9%. Electric operating income, which is revenue minus electric operating expenses and pays interest and shareholder returns, rose from 33,449 to 72,577 million dollars and accounted for 38.4%. Together, the recovery of and return on investment made up 57.3% of the increase. EIA notes that for-profit utilities include a return for owners in their prices.

Depreciation follows capital spending. EIA reports that utility capital spending on distribution reached 50.9 billion dollars in 2023, up 31.4 billion dollars (160%) from 2003, and transmission spending nearly tripled to 27.7 billion dollars. Line transformer investment alone was 7.5 billion dollars in 2023. Over the same two decades, spending to produce electricity fell 24%, mainly because fuel got cheaper. The equipment side of that story is covered in our transformer shortage report.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reaches a similar conclusion from a different angle: total IOU distribution spending grew about 5% a year in real terms from 2019 to 2025, and its literature review found distribution costs raised retail prices in 22 states from 2024 to 2025, often through storm cost recovery. Central Maine Power's storm surcharge, for example, rose from 1.8 cents per kWh in 2024 to 2.5 cents in 2025.

Depreciation (utility accounting): The yearly portion of a utility's investment in poles, wires, substations, meters and power plants that regulators allow it to recover from customers over the asset's life.

These are aggregates for the major investor-owned utilities that file FERC Form 1. Cooperatives, with 21,296,054 customers in 2025, and municipal utilities, with 15,324,302, are outside this table (EIA-861 2025); see largest utility companies for who serves the most customers.

Natural gas prices move electricity prices with about a one-year lag

EIA describes wholesale power prices as strongly influenced by natural gas prices, but the residential price rarely falls when gas does. Annual data show increases following gas spikes with a lag and only small dips after gas declines.

The Henry Hub spot price averaged 6.42 dollars per million Btu in 2022, then 2.54 in 2023 and 2.19 in 2024 (EIA Henry Hub series). The residential price rose 10.1% in 2022, then kept rising: 6.4% in 2023 and 3.0% in 2024. That pattern is consistent with what Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory describes as regulatory lags in how fuel and purchased power costs pass through to customers, with falling gas offset by other rising costs.

Across 2012 to 2025, the annual percent change in the residential price has a correlation of 0.65 with the previous year's Henry Hub change, against 0.39 with the same year's. Price levels are uncorrelated (r = -0.04) because the residential price trends up while gas swings: from 2011 to 2025 the price fell in only two years (0.8% in 2016 and 0.1% in 2018). Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that the price of gas delivered to generators rose 36% in 2025 from its 2024 low and drove year-over-year retail price changes in 21 states.

Rate cases, fuel riders and capacity auctions decide when costs reach the bill

State commissions set base rates in rate cases; Virginia, for example, reviews Dominion's base rates every two years. Fuel, storm and capacity costs often flow through separate riders or supply charges that reset on their own schedules. Dated examples show both.

Rate case: A proceeding in which a state commission sets a utility's base rates to recover its approved costs plus an allowed return on equity.

Fuel rider (fuel adjustment clause): A separate bill line that passes fuel and purchased power costs through to customers, subject to commission review of whether the costs were prudent, and is reset periodically for over- or under-collection.

Capacity charge: In PJM and some other markets, the cost of paying power plants to be available at peak, bought through an auction and embedded in supply rates.

On 2025-11-25 the Virginia State Corporation Commission approved a base revenue increase of 565.7 million dollars for 2026 against Dominion's request of 822 million dollars, raising a typical 1,000 kWh residential bill by 11.24 dollars (7.5%) in 2026 and 2.36 dollars (1.5%) in 2027, with a 9.8% return on equity.

Capacity costs are the PJM-specific driver. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities records that the 2025/2026 auction cleared at 270.43 dollars per MW-day, about 378% above the 56.56 dollars per MW-day 2024/2025 price. PJM Interconnection reported that the 2027/2028 auction cleared at the 333.44 dollars per MW-day cap, 1.3% above the prior auction, and fell 6,623 MW short of its reliability requirement. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates capacity raised average PJM wholesale costs by 0.9 cents per kWh in 2025, with another 0.6 cents expected in 2026.

Riders can lower bills too. On 2026-05-28 the Georgia Public Service Commission approved a fuel and storm cost settlement that cut 13 million dollars from Georgia Power's fuel balance and reduced the average 1,000 kWh bill by 4.03 dollars a month from June 2026, against the 1.32 dollars the company first estimated. Reliability spending and outage records are covered in power outages by state.

Summer and winter bills spike because degree days drive usage

The same household can see its bill swing by two-thirds within one year. In the last 12 months the national July bill was 1.66 times the April bill, because summer use per customer was much higher.

April 2026 averaged $127.89 and July 2026 $212.45 (EIA-861M). Use per customer drove the gap: 678.1 kWh in April against 1160.1 kWh in July. EIA adds that prices are usually highest in summer, when more expensive generation runs to meet demand. The national average revenue per kWh nonetheless peaked in April 2026 at 18.86 cents, a pattern consistent with fixed monthly charges being spread over fewer kWh in a mild month (our interpretation).

Winter peaks are smaller nationally but large in electrically heated homes. January 2026 averaged $175.05, with 907 heating degree days against a January normal of 861.4. The January bill was 42.0% above January 2019, close to the 41.2% rise for July. Electric space heating uses about 2,484 kWh a year in homes that have it (EIA RECS 2020).

How to read your own bill: rate plan, fuel adjustment, estimated reads and big loads

Once the national drivers are clear, a household can check which ones apply to its own account. These checks use public records and the bill itself.

• Compare kWh, not dollars. Divide this bill's dollars by its kWh and compare with the same month last year. If kWh is flat and the bill rose, the rate changed; nationally the price rose 6.5% in the last 12 months.
• Find the rate plan. Check whether the account is on a flat, tiered or time-of-use rate. About 12.7% of residential customers (18,422,966) were enrolled in dynamic pricing in 2025 (EIA-861 2025).
• Read the rider lines. Fuel, purchased power, storm, capacity and transmission charges are often listed separately. In Florida's October 2026 schedules, the fuel clause ran from $28.93 to $88.20 on a 1,000 kWh bill (Florida Public Service Commission).
• Look for an estimated read. Maryland's commission notes that if an estimated bill is canceled, the next bill covers two months. In 2025, 87.0% of residential meters were AMI meters read remotely and 3.7% were standard meters (EIA-861 2025). Maryland requires utilities to mark estimated reads on the bill (Maryland Public Service Commission).
• Check the big loads. Electric water heating, electric space heating, pool pumps, EV charging and central air are the largest end uses in homes that have them (table below).
• Measure one device. U.S. Department of Energy gives the formula: watts times hours per day divided by 1,000 equals daily kWh. Its kettle example, 1,500 W for one hour a day, comes to 547.5 kWh a year, or $98.77 at the national price for the 12 months ending August 2026 rather than DOE's 60.23 dollars at 11 cents.

EIA puts average household use at about 10,500 kWh a year, with air conditioning at 19% of residential electricity, space heating 12% and water heating 12% in 2020. A switch to a heat pump or an EV changes which of these lines dominates; incentive programs are tracked in heat pump rebates by state, and solar bill credits in net metering by state.

When to call the utility and when to call an electrician

Billing and metering questions belong with the utility and the state commission. Wiring and equipment questions belong with a licensed electrician.

• Call the utility when the bill shows an estimated read, a rate or rider change, a new plan, or kWh that does not match your own meter reading. You can ask for a meter test; in Maryland a commission referee test costs 10.00 dollars, refunded if the meter is outside the 98% to 102% accuracy band (Maryland Public Service Commission).
• Call the state commission if the utility's answer does not resolve a billing dispute.
• Call a licensed electrician when usage stays high after the obvious loads are ruled out, breakers trip, outlets or panels are warm, or you are adding a large load such as an EV charger or heat pump. U.S. Department of Energy notes that whole-house monitors are often installed in the main breaker panel and some require an electrician.

How the benchmark is built

Get the calculations (CSV)

Where contractors differ

1. The average US residential bill was $157.84 a month in the 12 months ending August 2026, against $115.49 in 2019, a rise of 36.7% (EIA-861M).^[1]
2. Higher prices per kWh account for $44.29 of the $42.35 monthly increase from 2019 to the 12 months ending August 2026; lower usage subtracted $1.94.^[1]
3. Weather lowered the average bill by $2.77 a month compared with 2019, because 2019 had 4249 heating degree days against 3965 in the 12 months ending August 2026 (NOAA Climate Prediction Center).^[3]
4. Weather-normalized use per customer was 874.9 kWh a month in the 12 months ending August 2026, 0.6% above 2019, worth $0.83 a month.^[1][3]
5. From the prior 12 months (September 2024 to August 2025) to the 12 months ending August 2026, the average bill rose $9.90 (6.7%); price added $9.61 and weather $0.73.^[1][3]
6. July 2026 set the nominal record at $212.45, with 369 cooling degree days against a 1991-2020 July average of 346.5.^[1][3]
7. Adjusted to August 2026 dollars with CPI-U, the July 2010 bill ($227.04) was higher than the July 2026 bill ($213.12).^[1][11]
8. Major investor-owned utilities reported depreciation of 54,845 million dollars in 2025, up 54.2% from 2019; depreciation rose from 13.0% to 14.6% of electric revenue (EIA Electric Power Annual Table 8.3).^[5]
9. Per investor-owned utility customer, transmission operation expense rose from $127.22 a year in 2019 to $167.23 in 2025 (FERC Form 1 via EIA; EIA-861 customer counts).^[5][6][7]
10. Utility capital spending on distribution reached 50.9 billion dollars in 2023, up 160% since 2003, the largest driver of utility spending growth over two decades (EIA).^[8]
11. PJM's 2027/2028 capacity auction cleared at the 333.44 dollars per MW-day cap, and nearly 5,100 MW of the 5,250 MW rise in forecast peak load was attributed to data centers (PJM Interconnection).^[15]
12. In Florida, the fuel clause was 26.3% of Duke Energy Florida's 1,000 kWh residential bill and 21.2% of FPL's for October to December 2026 (Florida Public Service Commission).^[12]
13. The national residential price correlates with the prior year's Henry Hub change (r = 0.65, 2012 to 2025) but not with the gas price level (r = -0.04, 2010 to 2025).^[1][4]
14. In 2025, 87.0% of US residential meters were advanced (AMI) meters, and 18,422,966 residential customers were enrolled in dynamic pricing such as time-of-use (EIA-861 2025).^[6]

In short

• The average US residential bill was $157.84 a month in the 12 months ending August 2026, up $42.35 (36.7%) from $115.49 in 2019 (EIA-861M).
• The average price rose 38.6%, from 13.01 to 18.04 cents per kWh, which by itself added $44.29 a month.
• Use per customer fell 1.4% to 874.9 kWh a month; after adjusting for weather with NOAA Climate Prediction Center degree days, use rose only 0.6%.
• In inflation-adjusted terms the bill was 6.0% higher than in 2019 (BLS CPI), so most of the nominal rise tracks general inflation.
• Among major investor-owned utilities, depreciation rose 54.2% from 2019 to 2025, faster than fuel and purchased power (32.2%); depreciation plus operating income took 57.3% of the electric revenue increase (EIA Electric Power Annual Table 8.3).
• Year-to-year changes in the residential price correlate more with the prior year's Henry Hub gas price change (r = 0.65) than with the same year's (r = 0.39), consistent with fuel costs passing through riders with a lag.
• The five highest bill months since 2010 are all Julys and Augusts from 2024 to 2026; after inflation, the highest months are the summers of 2010 to 2012.

Common questions

Keep reading

• Average electric bill by state
• How to hire an electrician
• Aluminum wiring and knob-and-tube wiring: how many US homes are old enough, by state
• Average Cost of Solar Panels by State: Installed Prices, 2025
• Average Electric Bill by State: 2025 Bills, 2026 Price Changes and What Drives the Gap
• All electrical contractor data

How we built this report

Selection: national monthly data from primary federal sources (EIA-861M, EIA Electric Power Monthly, NOAA Climate Prediction Center, EIA Henry Hub, BLS CPI), FERC Form 1 accounts as compiled by EIA from Catalyst Cooperative's reprocessed open data, a national laboratory study (LBNL), and dated records from state commissions and PJM. Vendor and marketplace pages were read only to compare against pages that already rank for this question and are not cited for any figure.

Bill series: for each month, residential revenue, kWh sales and customers were summed across the 50 states and DC in EIA-861M (sales_revenue.xlsx, August 2026 data released 2026-10-23). Average bill = revenue / customers; use = sales / customers; price = revenue / sales. Twelve-month figures divide total revenue and sales by 12 times the mean customer count, so bill = price x use holds exactly. The 2025 calendar-year bill computed this way matches EIA-861 annual data; this report does not republish state figures (see average electric bill by state).

Decomposition: midpoint (symmetric) method, so price and usage effects sum to the bill change with no residual. Weather adjustment: OLS of monthly kWh per customer on CONUS population-weighted HDD and CDD plus a linear trend, January 2015 to August 2026 (n = 140, R squared 0.936). A 50/50 blend of current and prior-month degree days to mimic billing cycles fit worse (R squared 0.843) and was not used. Normals are our 1991-2020 averages of CPC daily data by calendar month.

Cost components: EIA Electric Power Annual Table 8.3 (released 2026-10-21) for major investor-owned utilities, 2015 to 2025. Per-customer values divide by EIA-861 customers of investor-owned utilities (Bundled and Delivery service types, to avoid double counting retail choice customers) for 2019 and 2025. This is an approximation because the FERC 'major' set and the EIA-861 set differ. Formula: per-customer cost = Table 8.3 line in US$ million x 1,000,000 / EIA-861 investor-owned utility customers. Worked examples: transmission operation 13,282 x 1,000,000 / 104,399,124 = $127.22 per customer per year in 2019 and 18,445 x 1,000,000 / 110,295,751 = $167.23 in 2025 (about $13.94 a month); depreciation 54,845 x 1,000,000 / 110,295,751 = $497.25 in 2025. If some customers in the denominator belong to non-major utilities whose costs are not in the numerator, the per-customer values are understated; EIA does not publish a customer count for the major set, so the size of that gap is not known. Every input row is listed in derived_metrics.csv.

Conflicts: EIA-861M sums and published EPM Table 5.3 prices agree to the second decimal for the periods checked (2019: 13.01 cents; rolling 12 months to August 2026: 18.04 cents). LBNL's estimate of about 480 dollars a year in added bills from 2019 to 2025 uses a different bill definition; our EIA-861M figure for the same years is $422.28 a year. Both are shown as estimates.

Limitations: national averages hide large state and utility differences; EIA-861M flags 2025 months final but January to August 2026 preliminary, so the latest eight months will be revised; BLS did not publish an October 2025 CPI, so the 12-month CPI average uses 11 months; RECS 2020 reflects a pandemic year; the Florida, Virginia, Georgia, New Jersey and PJM entries are examples, not a census of rate actions. This report is not financial or legal advice. Bot-blocked or unavailable pages are listed in excluded.md.

Last updated 2026-11-05 (first edition 2026-11-02; figures unchanged after the EIA recheck). Next scheduled refresh after EIA's Electric Power Monthly release of 2026-11-24 (September 2026 data).

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, financial or investment advice.

Sources by tier

Tier 1: primary and official sources (23)

• [1] U.S. Energy Information Administration. EIA-861M Monthly Electric Power Industry Report: sales, revenue and customers by state (file sales_revenue.xlsx, August 2026 data, released 2026-10-23). January 2010 to August 2026 (2025 final; January to August 2026 preliminary). Accessed 2026-11-05.
• [2] U.S. Energy Information Administration. Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.3: Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers (October 2026 release). 2016 to August 2026. Accessed 2026-11-05.
• [3] NOAA Climate Prediction Center. Daily population-weighted heating and cooling degree days, CONUS (Population.Heating.txt and Population.Cooling.txt, 1991 to 2026). 1991-01-01 to 2026-10-31. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [4] U.S. Energy Information Administration. Henry Hub Natural Gas Spot Price, monthly (RNGWHHD). 1997 to September 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [5] U.S. Energy Information Administration. Electric Power Annual, Table 8.3: Revenue and Expense Statistics for Major U.S. Investor-Owned Electric Utilities, 2015 through 2025 (FERC Form 1 via Catalyst Cooperative; released 2026-10-21). 2015 to 2025. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [6] U.S. Energy Information Administration. Annual Electric Power Industry Report (EIA-861), 2025 data: Sales_Ult_Cust, Advanced_Meters and Dynamic_Pricing files. 2025. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [7] U.S. Energy Information Administration. Annual Electric Power Industry Report (EIA-861), 2019 data: Sales_Ult_Cust file. 2019. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [8] U.S. Energy Information Administration. Today in Energy: Grid infrastructure investments drive increase in utility spending over last two decades (2024-11-18). 2003 to 2023. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [9] Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and The Brattle Group. Retail Electricity Price Trends and Drivers: Data Update, 2026 Edition (July 2026 update). 2010 to 2025. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [10] U.S. Energy Information Administration. Short-Term Energy Outlook, Electricity, coal and renewables (released 2026-10-06; next release 2026-11-10). 2024 to 2027 forecast. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [11] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer Price Index flat files: CUUR0000SEHF01 (electricity) and CUUR0000SA0 (all items), U.S. city average. 2019 to September 2026 (October 2025 not published). Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [12] Florida Public Service Commission. Florida Investor-Owned Electric Utilities Total Cost for 1,000 Kilowatt Hours, Residential Service, October 1, 2026 (Internet Archive copy, snapshot 2026-10-23). October to December 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [13] Virginia State Corporation Commission. Final Order, Case No. PUR-2025-00058, Virginia Electric and Power Company 2025 biennial review (2025-11-25; copy of the order hosted by public radio). 2026 and 2027 rate years. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [14] New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. Decision and Order, Docket No. ER25040190, Basic Generation Service for the period beginning June 1, 2026 (agenda date 2025-11-21). PJM delivery years 2019/2020 to 2027/2028. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [15] PJM Interconnection. PJM Auction Procures 134,479 MW of Generation Resources, news release (2025-12-17; Internet Archive copy, snapshot 2026-10-02). 2027/2028 delivery year. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [16] Georgia Public Service Commission. Bigger Savings for Ratepayers: Commission Approves Stipulation on Fuel, Storm Damage cases, news release (2026-05-28). Bills from June 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [17] U.S. Energy Information Administration. Electricity explained: Electricity use in homes (last updated 2023-12-18). 2020. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [18] U.S. Energy Information Administration. 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey, Table CE5.3a: Detailed household site electricity end-use consumption, part 1, averages (released June 2023). 2020. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [19] U.S. Energy Information Administration. 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey, Table CE5.3b: Detailed household site electricity end-use consumption, part 2, averages (released June 2023). 2020. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [20] U.S. Department of Energy. Energy Saver: Estimating Appliance and Home Electronic Energy Use (Internet Archive copy, snapshot 2026-07-01; live page returned HTTP 404 on 2026-11-02). Undated guidance. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [21] U.S. Energy Information Administration. Electricity explained: Prices and factors affecting prices. Undated explainer. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [22] Maryland Public Service Commission. Billing Disputes, frequently asked questions. Current rules (Maryland). Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [23] U.S. Energy Information Administration. Energy explained: British thermal units (Btu). Conversion factor. Accessed 2026-11-02.