Here’s where Americans pay the most — and least — for electricity

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A photo shows electricity pylons.(Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP via Getty Images)

Americans’ electricity bills can vary dramatically depending on where they live, with residents in some states paying more than three times as much as those in others to keep the lights on.

By the numbers:

The latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows the national average residential electricity price at 17.24 cents per kilowatt-hour, about 6% higher than a year ago. The estimate is based on average residential rates and assumes a typical household uses about 900 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month.

Dig deeper:

North Dakota has the lowest average residential electricity rate in the country at 11.02 cents per kilowatt-hour, while Hawaii has the highest at 41.62 cents. 

But Hawaii’s island geography makes it something of an outlier, leaving California, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York among the most expensive states on the mainland. Nebraska, Idaho, Oklahoma and Arkansas rank among the cheapest.

Big picture view:

The price differences are not evenly distributed across the country. Many of the lowest-cost states are in the Plains and parts of the South, while some of the highest electricity prices are concentrated in the Northeast and along the West Coast.

For households already feeling the effects of inflation, those gaps can translate into a significant monthly expense, particularly in areas where heavy use of air conditioning or heating drives electricity consumption higher.

The disparities reflect a mix of factors beyond politics, including differences in fuel sources, weather, regulations, infrastructure costs and how much electricity households typically use.

For consumers, the takeaway is straightforward: where they live can play a major role in determining the size of one of the most unavoidable monthly bills.