EIA Electric Power Monthly, Explained
Latest data month August 2026 · Updated October 31, 2026 · Methodology
The Electric Power Monthly is the U.S. Energy Information Administration's monthly report on how much electricity the country generated, sold and charged for. It is published around the 25th of each month, reporting a month that closed about two months before, so the August 2026 figures on this page are the most recent EIA has released. Its most-cited table is Table 5.6.A, the average retail price of electricity by state and sector. In August 2026 that price averaged 18.16¢ per kilowatt-hour for U.S. residential customers, against 14.47¢ for commercial customers. Both tables are reproduced below.
What each table actually measures
The single most common mistake with this report is reading Table 5.6.A as a tariff. It is not one. Every figure below is an average computed from money and volume that utilities already reported, not a rate anyone is quoted:
| Table | What it reports | How it is computed |
|---|---|---|
| 5.6.A | Average retail price of electricity, cents/kWh, by state and sector | Total revenue ÷ total kilowatt-hours sold |
| 5.3 | Revenue from retail sales, million dollars | Reported by utilities on Form EIA-861M |
| 5.1 | Retail sales of electricity, million kWh | Reported by utilities on Form EIA-861M |
| Derived | Average monthly bill, dollars | Revenue ÷ number of customer accounts |
Three consequences follow, and they are the reason two people can quote this report and disagree:
- The price includes fixed charges. Because it is revenue divided by sales, a utility's monthly customer charge is spread across the kilowatt-hours sold. A household that uses very little electricity pays more per kilowatt-hour than this number, not less.
- The average bill is not a typical bill. It is revenue divided by accounts, so a state with many small apartments and a state with many large houses can share a price and differ sharply in bills. Usage, not rates, drives most of that gap.
- A rate change is not a bill change. Bills move with both price and consumption, and in a hot summer the second term dominates. Never restate one as the other.
Table 5.6.A: average retail price of electricity by state, August 2026
Cents per kilowatt-hour, as published. Residential and commercial sectors.
| State | Residential, ¢/kWh | Commercial, ¢/kWh | Change vs. year earlier | Average monthly bill | Average monthly use, kWh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 18.16 | 14.47 | +3.4% | $209.23 | 1,152 |
| Alabama | 16.33 | 14.98 | +0.4% | $253.96 | 1,555 |
| Alaska | 29.41 | 23.90 | +5.8% | $139.22 | 473 |
| Arizona | 15.05 | 13.05 | −0.3% | $269.26 | 1,789 |
| Arkansas | 14.37 | 11.73 | +7.8% | $217.04 | 1,510 |
| California | 29.75 | 30.02 | −3.8% | $234.85 | 789 |
| Colorado | 17.17 | 13.94 | +5.9% | $167.04 | 973 |
| Connecticut | 24.51 | 19.29 | −18.8% | $204.35 | 834 |
| Delaware | 18.70 | 14.50 | +11.0% | $209.57 | 1,121 |
| District of Columbia | 25.98 | 23.31 | +12.1% | $205.51 | 791 |
| Florida | 14.99 | 11.35 | −2.2% | $217.28 | 1,449 |
| Georgia | 15.90 | 13.81 | +2.3% | $233.87 | 1,471 |
| Hawaii | 47.18 | 43.55 | +22.5% | $269.05 | 570 |
| Idaho | 13.37 | 10.21 | +10.7% | $137.11 | 1,026 |
| Illinois | 19.32 | 14.67 | +7.2% | $171.18 | 886 |
| Indiana | 17.02 | 13.29 | +5.0% | $188.99 | 1,110 |
| Iowa | 17.06 | 14.15 | +10.2% | $148.72 | 872 |
| Kansas | 15.47 | 12.24 | +5.6% | $203.63 | 1,316 |
| Kentucky | 13.80 | 12.09 | +5.3% | $188.17 | 1,364 |
| Louisiana | 12.87 | 11.09 | +2.5% | $226.86 | 1,763 |
| Maine | 32.11 | 21.33 | +14.1% | $157.13 | 489 |
| Maryland | 21.40 | 17.00 | +7.6% | $233.47 | 1,091 |
| Massachusetts | 30.48 | 24.11 | −0.2% | $235.80 | 774 |
| Michigan | 22.99 | 16.21 | +10.9% | $172.39 | 750 |
| Minnesota | 17.20 | 13.41 | +1.8% | $145.27 | 844 |
| Mississippi | 14.43 | 13.45 | +6.0% | $238.78 | 1,655 |
| Missouri | 16.02 | 12.63 | +4.6% | $215.88 | 1,347 |
| Montana | 15.57 | 13.64 | +9.0% | $122.11 | 784 |
| Nebraska | 13.54 | 10.00 | +5.8% | $154.91 | 1,144 |
| Nevada | 12.72 | 9.80 | +1.4% | $207.45 | 1,631 |
| New Hampshire | 27.64 | 20.99 | +13.1% | $201.82 | 730 |
| New Jersey | 24.61 | 18.71 | −0.4% | $236.26 | 960 |
| New Mexico | 16.51 | 12.14 | +3.3% | $162.31 | 983 |
| New York | 28.65 | 23.06 | +7.5% | $212.44 | 742 |
| North Carolina | 14.95 | 10.73 | +2.5% | $195.84 | 1,310 |
| North Dakota | 13.31 | 8.07 | +2.6% | $130.29 | 979 |
| Ohio | 19.38 | 12.31 | +10.4% | $199.46 | 1,029 |
| Oklahoma | 14.82 | 10.90 | +2.8% | $251.28 | 1,696 |
| Oregon | 15.92 | 10.72 | +0.4% | $134.77 | 847 |
| Pennsylvania | 21.77 | 13.93 | +9.2% | $198.28 | 911 |
| Rhode Island | 28.18 | 23.31 | +6.2% | $176.03 | 625 |
| South Carolina | 15.76 | 11.76 | +4.0% | $226.29 | 1,436 |
| South Dakota | 15.15 | 11.71 | +9.0% | $160.09 | 1,057 |
| Tennessee | 13.42 | 13.13 | +2.5% | $205.56 | 1,532 |
| Texas | 15.91 | 8.96 | +3.3% | $265.58 | 1,670 |
| Utah | 13.31 | 10.39 | −2.3% | $163.76 | 1,230 |
| Vermont | 23.84 | 20.47 | +7.9% | $142.06 | 596 |
| Virginia | 17.64 | 11.14 | +11.3% | $219.74 | 1,246 |
| Washington | 14.63 | 11.81 | +7.2% | $119.88 | 819 |
| West Virginia | 16.31 | 11.65 | +4.4% | $174.42 | 1,069 |
| Wisconsin | 19.41 | 14.19 | +5.3% | $147.68 | 761 |
| Wyoming | 14.43 | 10.27 | +0.7% | $118.52 | 821 |
Source: EIA, Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.a, retrieved through the EIA Electricity Data Browser API. Bill and usage are derived from the revenue, sales and customer counts in the same release, as set out above. Year-earlier change compares August 2026 with August 2025, the same month a year before, because electricity use is seasonal and month-to-month moves mostly measure the weather.
When it is published, and how far behind
EIA releases the Electric Power Monthly around the 25th of each month, and the month it reports closed about two months before that, because utilities file Form EIA-861M after their own billing cycles have closed. Two lags stack up as a result, and they are different things: the report trails its data month by about two months, and whatever you read today trails further still, by however long it has been since the last release. As this page was built on October 31, 2026, the newest month EIA had published was August 2026.
The practical consequence is that no official U.S. source carries a current-month national average retail electricity price. A page quoting one is not using this report.
Figures are also revised. EIA restates earlier months as late filings arrive, so a number quoted from an old release may not match the current one. This site records every revision it observes; the data updates log lists them.
What this page does not reproduce
The Electric Power Monthly runs to more than a hundred tables. This page mirrors the retail price and revenue tables, which is what the site uses and what most people are looking for. It does not reproduce:
- Industrial and transportation sector prices, the other columns of Table 5.6.A. This site collects the residential and commercial series only.
- All-sector averages. An all-sector figure blends industrial power bought at a fraction of household rates, so it answers a different question from the one most readers have. Where you need it, take it from EIA directly.
- Generation, capacity, fuel-stock and emissions tables (Tables 1.1 through 4.x), which describe the power system rather than what customers pay.
For any of those, go to the Electric Power Monthly itself. Nothing here is a substitute for the primary source; it is a plain-language index to the part of it that concerns household bills.
Where to go next
- Electricity rates and average bills by state — the same data with five-year trends, a bill estimator and a page per state.
- Why is my electric bill so high? — what moves a bill, separated from what moves a rate.
- Methodology — every source this site uses, with refresh cadence.