According to the EIA[1], the national average electricity price in the United States increased from 12.87 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 13.01 cents/kWh.
Electricity prices are determined by various factors, including your location, usage, time of year, and market changes or disruptions.
The cost of electricity price varies by state. Years of data have been accumulated to determine pricing trends across the country.
- Why Do Electricity Price Rates Vary From State to State?
- Regulated Vs. Deregulated States
- Energy Providers
- Mix Of Energy Sources
- Electricity Distribution and Transmission
- Most Expensive Electricity by State
- Estimating Electric Bills In Your State
- Electricity Deregulation by State
- Components Of Your Final Charge Of Electricity Bill
- Energy Efficiency and Conservation
- Conclusion
Why Do Electricity Price Rates Vary From State to State?
Several other factors influence both commercial electricity rates and residential electricity rates in your state, some of which you can control, such as load factor, and others which you can’t, such as the types of energy-generating in your state.
Understanding how to regulate your energy pricing is your best option; a few minor changes in your habits can significantly impact the rates that are accessible to you.
1. What Time Of Day Do You Use Energy:
Competitive suppliers use complex models to predict demand throughout the day. If you use more energy during peak demand, the electricity you use costs the supplier more, which means you’ll pay a higher rate when you renew.
2. Depends on Season
Summer rates in Southern areas can be higher than winter rates due to higher energy demand for cooling systems, while heating prices in freezing northern states can be lower.
3. Location You Reside
Whether the state has energy choice, energy rates differ from one state to another and even between utility zones within the same condition. There is a slew of complicated reasons for this, but the short answer is supply and demand. Rates are lower in some locations because there is more generation (supply) and less demand.
Regulated Vs. Deregulated States
When compared to states that have energy choices, the average rate in regulated states is cheaper.
Isn’t the goal of energy deregulation to cut prices? Yes, but there are several variables at play. Don’t be concerned; deregulation does not always imply a higher rate.
For example, Texas (a deregulated state)[2] has historically had some of the lowest rates in the country.
Before and after deregulation, the Northeast has the highest rates in the country. These are states where population density is high. The strong demand and a high cost of living. The lower rates in the core states (regulated) result in less market, a cheaper cost of living, etc. The most important conclusion derived from this information is straightforward. If you reside in a state with deregulated energy markets, you can save money on the average electric bill by comparing suppliers and rates to find the best energy plan.
Energy Providers
The United States generates electricity using a variety of energy sources and technologies. Over time, the authorities and technologies have evolved, and some are now used more frequently than others.
Fossil fuels such as petroleum, natural gas, coal, nuclear energy, and renewable energy sources are the three main forms of energy for electricity generation. Steam turbines use nuclear, fossil fuels, geothermal, biomass, and solar thermal energy to create the most power. In addition, hydro turbines, gas turbines, solar photovoltaics, wind turbines are other necessary electricity-producing systems.
1. Fossil Fuels
The most common energy source for the generation of electricity is fossil fuels.
2. Natural Gas
Natural gas is the primary source of power generation in the United States, accounting for nearly 40% of total generation. Natural gas is utilized to create energy in steam turbines and gas turbines.
3. Coal
Coal is the third-largest energy source for the generation of electricity in the United States, accounting for around 19% of total generation. Steam turbines are used in nearly all coal-fired power plants.
A few coal-fired power plants converted coal to gas and then generated electricity using a gas turbine.
4. Petroleum
Petroleum accounted for less than 1% of total electrical generation in the United States. Steam turbines consume residual fuel oil and petroleum coke. 5. 5.
5. Diesel
Engine generators use distillate fuel, also called diesel—fuel oil. Gas turbines can also burn fuel oil which is residual and distillates.
6. Nuclear Energy
Nuclear power generates one-fifth of all electricity in the United States.
In 2020, nuclear energy accounted for around 20% of total electricity generated in the United States.
7. Turbines
Steam turbines are used in nuclear power plants to generate electricity from nuclear fission.
8. Renewable Energy
Renewable energy sources provide an increasing amount of electricity in the United States.
Many renewable energy sources are employed to create power, accounting for around 20% of total electricity generation in the United States in 2020.
9. Hydropower Plants
In 2020, hydropower plants generated around 7.3 percent of total electricity generation in the United States and about 37 percent renewable energy generation.
Hydropower plants generate electricity by spinning a turbine attached to a generator with the help of flowing water.
10. Wind Energy
In 2020, wind energy accounted for around 8.4% of total electricity generation in the United States and about 43% of renewable energy generation. Wind turbines transform the power generated by the wind into electricity.
11. Biomass
In 2020, biomass accounted for roughly 1.4 percent of total electricity generation in the United States. Biomass can be used directly in gas turbines, internal combustion or steam generators, engine generators. In addition, it can be transformed into a gas. It can also be combusted in gas turbines, internal combustion engine generators, or steam generators.
12. Solar Energy
In 2020, solar energy will provide roughly 2.3 percent of total electricity in the United States. The two primary forms of solar electricity generation technologies are photovoltaic (PV) and sun-thermal power. In a photovoltaic cell, PV conversion generates electricity directly from sunlight. Steam turbines are used to create energy in most solar-thermal power systems.
Mix Of Energy Sources
The United States consumes and generates various energy kinds and sources, classified into primary and secondary, renewable and non-renewable, and fossil fuels.
Fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, and coal), nuclear energy, and renewable energy are primary sources. Electricity is a secondary energy source that is created from fundamental energy sources.
Liquid fuels are measured in barrels or gallons, natural gas is measured in cubic feet, coal is measured in short tones, and electricity is measured in kilowatts and kilowatt-hours.
British thermal units (Btu), a unit of heat energy, are extensively used in the United States to compare different energy sources.
Electricity Distribution and Transmission
In the United States, electricity is frequently transported across considerable distances. Substation transformers scale down the voltage as power is transmitted across the grid and arrives in load regions (69 kV to 4.16 kV).
Most Expensive Electricity by State
According to the Energy Information Administration of the United States. In the United States, 13.99 cents per kWh is the average home power rate.
The average cost of power for a business customer in the United States is 11.60 cents per kWh. The prices are expressed in cents per kWh. Hover your mouse over any state to view its average electricity price.
Hawaii is the most expensive state in terms of electricity price (34.43 cents), while Washington is the least costly (9.35 cents).
The average retail electricity price for the Hawaiian residential sector was 32.36 US cents per kilowatt-hour in January 2021.
The state of Alaska is noted for its regular snowfall and icy blizzards. As a result, Alaska’s average oil and gas bill is $122.83, which is not surprising given the state’s unusually chilly environment.
The rising natural gas prices compelled the Public Service Co. of Oklahoma to increase the cost of fuel, causing residents in Oklahoma to face a significant increase in their average electric bill that month.
The average electricity tariff in Louisiana is 7.01 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is the least expensive state in electricity.
Estimating Electric Bills In Your State
In the United States, monthly energy costs are influenced by two factors: the home’s location and the amount of electricity it consumes. You may estimate how much electricity your home uses with the SaveOnEnergy usage calculator.
Multiply the average US home’s electricity usage (893 kWh) by the cost per kWh in your state for that month to estimate your monthly energy bill. In Ohio, for example, the average price per kWh in July was 13.08 cents, resulting in an average account of roughly $116.80. (893 kWh x 13.08 cents).
Electricity Deregulation by State
Consumers did not have the freedom to choose their preferred firm for their energy supply before deregulation and energy choice, the state of the energy industry in the United States, because electricity rates by the state were not competitive.
In 1978, however, everything changed. The federal government passed PURPA or the Public Utility Regulatory Act. In essence, the bill was created to let individual states select how to provide electricity to their citizens.
However, the initial set of deregulated states did not mature into fundamental competition electricity markets until the late 1990s. CA, TX, RI, NY, PA, and MA were the states in question.
Components Of Your Final Charge Of Electricity Bill
The price of electricity is always represented in units like cents per kilowatt-hour. Therefore, you should have a good indication of the bill you should expect at the end of the month by multiplying the price by your average monthly usage.
The other part of your payment will be your utility’s transmission and delivery service rates, which will not change even if you switch to a retail electric provider. So the portion of the bill that will vary greatly due to switching will be the electric supply charge.
How Does Energy Help In Lower Electricity Bills?
Your energy bill is a monthly snapshot of how much electricity you used the previous month, as well as how much you’ll have to pay to keep the lights on the next month.
Beyond that, it contains some helpful information on your energy usage and tariffs if you know where to look. Most electricity bills are split into two portions, though this varies by area.
1. Division or Delivery Charges:
These are the fees you pay to the utility to keep the poles, cables, and transmission stations in good working order so that you can get energy.
2. Distribution Charges:
This is the price of the electricity you utilize. The generation charge is calculated by multiplying the price per kilowatt-hour by the monthly amount of kilowatt-hours.
There are a few things you can do to save money if you understand the components of your power bill and the arithmetic behind them. To begin with, you will save money by using less electricity.
How To Reduce Your Power Expenditures
Before we get into the specifics of how much utilities cost, there are a few things you can do to save money on your monthly energy bills:
1. Get an intelligent, programmable thermostat to replace your old one.
2. Replace your lightbulbs with energy-saving alternatives.
3. Insulated curtains should be used instead of regular curtains.
4. When you’re not using your electronics, unplug them.
5. Install solar panels on your home.
6. If your water heater is more than ten years old, it should be replaced.
7. Replace the air filter in your furnace every three months.
8. When showering and brushing your teeth, use less water.
Energy Efficiency and Conservation
the Energy Star program, run by the federal government, promotes energy efficiency. Energy efficiency is also encouraged by the Alliance to Save Energy, an industry association.
Energy is more than just numbers on a power bill; it underpins everything we do. Every day, we consume energy for transportation, cooking, heating and cooling our homes, manufacturing, lighting, water consumption, and entertainment.
Our lives depend on energy to be comfortable, productive, and joyful. To maintain this standard of living, we must make prudent use of our energy resources.
Reduced total energy use and more efficient energy use are two aspects of resource management.
The decisions we make about how we use energy, such as turning off equipment when they are not in use or purchasing energy-efficient appliances, will have an increasingly negative impact on the quality of our environment and life.
We can do a lot of things to save energy and use it more wisely. These considerations include energy conservation and efficiency.
These phrases are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings. For example, any behavior that leads to the use of less energy is considered energy conservation.
The use of technology that uses less energy to fulfill the same function is energy efficiency.
An example of energy efficiency is a compact fluorescent light bulb that consumes less power to provide the same amount of light as an incandescent light bulb.
The decision to switch from an incandescent to a compact fluorescent light bulb is an example of energy conservation.
Conclusion
In the United States, the average residential electricity rate is 10.42 cents per kilowatt-hour. The savings are passed on to you, the consumer, through refunds or lower electricity costs. Reducing energy consumption in your home saves you money, improves our energy security, and decreases pollution from non-renewable energy sources.