Electricity Rates By US State

Humans have known of electricity since as early as 6^th century B.C, yet its more common real-life applications came from the 18^th century A.D. ever since then, electricity has been one of the turning points of humanity since the discovery of fire. Electricity has touched every aspect of life, from homes to multinational empires. The following are some amazing facts and what you should know about the electricity and its consumption in the USA by state.

There is a close relationship between electricity demand, consumption, and rates for electricity or the price per kWh (KiloWatt Hour).

Top 10 Electricity Consuming States In The USA

The following are the top electrical consumption by state. Note that here, only the top 10 are mentioned. And you can also see that there are 3 categories of electricity usage. They are,

1. Residential
2. Commercial
3. Industrial

Residential Electricity Usage (in million kilowatt-hours)

1. Texas: 144,242
2. Florida: 121,463
3. California: 90,124
4. North Carolina: 56,134
5. Georgia: 54,771
6. Pennsylvania: 51,724
7. Ohio: 49,796
8. New York: 49,081
9. Virginia: 43,982
10. Illinois: 43,717

Commercial Electricity Usage (in million kilowatt-hours)

1. Texas: 137,486
2. California: 117,682
3. Florida: 95,004
4. New York: 75,333
5. Virginia: 50,201
6. Illinois: 49,988
7. North Carolina: 47,890
8. Georgia: 46,265
9. Ohio: 46,158
10. Pennsylvania: 42,623

Industrial Electricity Usage (in million kilowatt-hours)

1. Texas: 119,970
2. Ohio: 50,651
3. California: 48,627
4. Pennsylvania: 47,889
5. Indiana: 43,737
6. Illinois: 42,971
7. Louisiana: 37,161
8. Alabama: 33,317
9. Georgia: 32,251
10. Michigan: 30,591

You can notice that the state of Texas leads in all residential, commercial and industrial usage of electricity, yet other ranks in the top 10 vary between states. This is mainly because of the differences in the regional span of industrial zones and commercial zones. Looking at one of the major factors that affect electricity rates, let us have look at the lowest electricity rates and the highest electricity rates in the USA.

Note that this information is only on residential electricity rates.

This Map Shows The Average Electricity Retail Price By US State

US States With The Cheapest Electricity Rates (cents/kWh)

1. Louisiana: 7.79
2. Washington: 7.94
3. Oklahoma: 8.2
4. Arkansas: 8.26
5. Idaho: 8.26
6. Wyoming: 8.28
7. Texas: 8.38
8. Kentucky: 8.57
9. Utah: 8.6
10. Iowa: 8.73

You can see clearly that none of the highest electricity consuming states has cheap prices.

US States With The Highest Electricity Rates (cents/kWh)

1. Hawaii: 26.05
2. Alaska: 19.1
3. Connecticut: 17.55
4. Massachusetts: 17.12
5. Rhode Island: 16.42
6. New Hampshire: 16.17
7. California: 16.06
8. New York: 14.74
9. Vermont: 14.6
10. New Jersey: 13.32

Here, you can see that Hawaii has the highest residential electricity rates. One of the main reasons for this is the low population and high electricity usage in the state of Hawaii.

Another reason for these high rates in these states is that the high population, high number of businesses and homing industries that highly power-intensive (i.e.: Texas = oil Industry).

How Is This Vast Electricity Requirement Fulfilled?

The USA utilizes a number of ways to supply for this ever-increasing domestic demand for electricity.

1. Natural gas: Natural gas has been the largest source of electrical generation in the United States since July 2015
2. Coal: Generation of electricity is the largest user of coal, around 30% of the total domestic supply
3. Hydro-electricity
4. Nuclear

In conclusion, we will go out of the USA to show you the global consumption of electricity, just so you can get an idea.

Top 10 Countries By Electricity Consumption (kW·h/yr)

1. China: 6,310,000,000,000
2. United States: 3,911,000,000,000
3. India: 1,408,624,400,000
4. Russia: 1,065,000,000,000  
5. Japan: 934,000,000,000  
6. Germany: 533,000,000,000  
7. Canada: 528,000,000,000  
8. Brazil: 518,000,000,000  
9. South Korea: 495,000,000,000  
10. France: 431,000,000,000