The SaveOnEnergy.com® Electricity Bill Report: Who paid the most, least?

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Updated November 3, 2022

Electricity bills are relentless – they come every month, and there’s little alternative except to pay them. But some months are more painful for residential electricity than others. Most state electricity comparisons are made on the basis of electricity rates, usually expressed in cents per kilowatt-hours (kWh). It’s a number that doesn’t mean much to average users, who care more about that figure on the bottom line of their electricity bills.

That’s why we publish the SaveOnEnergy.com® Electricity Bill Report, a monthly look factoring the latest average state energy rates and average power usage in each state to show what’s happening with the monthly electricity bills across the country. The November 2022 Report uses the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s data from August to show that Utah residents paid the lowest electricity bills in the country on average. On the other side, Hawaii residents paid the highest electricity bills of any state.

How does your state stack up?

Digging into those numbers provides some surprises. Vermont residents paid 20.20  cents/kWh for electricity – the 9th highest electric rate in the country. So how do they have such low monthly bills? Their monthly energy usage at 567 ¢/kWh is third lowest in the country.

Which states have the highest bills?

What about the other side of the equation? Hawaii recorded the lowest average monthly usage at 537 kWh in August but received the highest electric bills. That’s because Hawaii residents had the highest electricity rates in August at 45.73 ¢/kWh.

We’ve outlined the best and the worst bills. See how your state did in this chart (1 = lowest bills):

How have electricity bills changed since last year?

Bills in New Hampshire increased by the greatest percentage from a year ago, going up 40.2% since August 2021. Bills increased year-over-year in every state except in Montana.

What to do about high bills?

The first thing you can do is reduce the amount of energy you use. There are a lot of ways to lower your home’s energy consumption and, as a result, pay less on energy bills. Some energy-saving tips are easy and painless.

To reduce your energy consumption, it helps to know where you are using power in your home. You can use the SaveOnEnergy usage calculator to estimate your home’s energy consumption.

For residents or businesses in deregulated areas, another way to lower your energy bills is to find lower electricity supply rates. Deregulated states allow energy consumers to choose the company that provides their energy. Click on your state, enter your ZIP code, and explore whether you can lower your electricity rate:

SaveOnEnergy.com will continue to track monthly electricity bills. Bookmark this page to see which state residents are getting the best and worst deals on electricity.