Are electricity prices rising faster than inflation?

Two official measures, one answer

The direct comparison comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks electricity inside the same Consumer Price Index (CPI) it uses to measure inflation. In September 2026, the latest month with a year-earlier reading:

• CPI, electricity: +4.4% over 12 months (+4.4% seasonally adjusted);
• CPI, all items (overall inflation): +3.7%¹;
• BLS average price of electricity: +4.3% over the same 12 months. In October 2026 it stood at $0.190 per kWh², a US city average that includes taxes and fixed charges as billed.

EIA measures something different: average revenue per kWh, which is what customers paid in total divided by the kWh they used, excluding most taxes. Its national residential average was 18.04¢ per kWh over the 12 months from September 2025 to August 2026, 6.5% above the previous 12 months. For January to August 2026, the increase on the same months of 2025 was 6.8%. The single latest month shows less: in August 2026 homes paid 18.16¢ per kWh, 3.4% more than the 17.57¢ per kWh³ of August 2025. Months since January 2026 are preliminary.

These figures cover different months and different definitions, so they do not match to the decimal. They agree on the direction: over the latest year the price of electricity has risen faster than prices in general. BLS published its October 2026 data on November 10, 2026 and the next release is due December 10, 2026; EIA's next monthly release, with September 2026 data, is due November 24, 2026.

The 2010s lagged, the 2020s caught up

Whether electricity has "beaten inflation" depends on where you start counting. The chart rebases both BLS indexes to January 2010.

ElectricityAll items (overall inflation)

Source: BLS, Consumer Price Index, electricity. Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted, rebased so January 2010 = 100. October 2025 was not collected (2025 lapse in appropriations), so that month is missing.

Show the numbers

Month	Electricity index	All items index
January 2010	100.0	100.0
July 2010	108.0	100.6
January 2011	101.2	101.6
July 2011	110.2	104.3
January 2012	103.6	104.6
July 2012	108.8	105.7
January 2013	104.1	106.3
July 2013	112.1	107.8
January 2014	108.6	108.0
July 2014	116.6	110.0
January 2015	111.4	107.9
July 2015	115.8	110.1
January 2016	108.7	109.3
July 2016	114.6	111.0
January 2017	109.8	112.1
July 2017	117.5	113.0
January 2018	112.4	114.4
July 2018	116.6	116.3
January 2019	112.8	116.2
July 2019	117.2	118.4
January 2020	113.4	119.1
July 2020	117.1	119.6
January 2021	115.2	120.7
July 2021	121.8	126.0
January 2022	127.4	129.7
July 2022	140.4	136.7
January 2023	142.6	138.1
July 2023	144.6	141.1
January 2024	148.0	142.3
July 2024	151.6	145.2
January 2025	150.8	146.6
July 2025	160.0	149.1
February 2026	158.8	150.8
August 2026	165.9	154.6
October 2026	164.6	155.8

In most years of the 2010s, the annual average of the electricity index rose less than the all-items index; in 2016 it fell. That changed in 2022, and in every year from 2022 to 2025 electricity rose faster than overall prices. On the chart, the two lines cross back and forth with the summer season until 2018; from late 2018 to mid-2022 electricity runs below overall prices, and since mid-2023 it has stayed above them.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and The Brattle Group reach a similar conclusion in their 2026 update on retail price trends, which deflates EIA's prices with BLS CPI data. Their national all-sector average (homes, businesses and industry together):

After inflation, the all-sector price in 2025 was higher than in 2019 but lower than in 2010. The report describes national prices as having largely tracked inflation in recent years, with a bump in 2025.

Before inflation, the rise is long and steady. EIA's annual residential average went from 8.58¢ per kWh⁵ in 2001 to 11.54¢ per kWh in 2010 and 17.23¢ per kWh in 2025, 100.8% more than in 2001. It rose in 21 of the years since 2002; the last annual decline was in 2018⁶.

Homes took a larger share of the increase

The all-sector average hides a split by customer type. LBNL's figures for 2019 to 2025, before inflation:

• Residential: +33.0%;
• Commercial: +26.0%;
• Industrial: +27.0%⁴.

The same report says commercial and industrial prices rose well below the rate of inflation over that period while residential prices did not, so households have borne a growing share of costs. It suggests this may be due in part to distribution costs, which fall more heavily on homes, and to efforts to keep business prices low for economic development.

That is why a residential reader and an all-sector table can come away with different answers to the inflation question. In 2025, the national residential average was 17.23¢ per kWh and the all-sector average 13.56¢ per kWh⁶. Over the last 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026), the residential average rose 6.5%, the commercial 5.7% and the industrial 6.5%³, so the most recent year moved all three sectors up at a similar pace.

Residential18.04¢

Commercial13.87¢

Industrial8.91¢

All sectors14.15¢

Source: EIA, Electric Power Monthly / EIA-861M sales and revenue by state. Average revenue per kWh: what each customer class paid in total divided by what it used. Industrial customers take power at higher voltage and in large, steady volumes, so their average is lower. Monthly EIA data through August 2026 (released October 23, 2026); months since January 2026 are preliminary.

Show the numbers

Sector	United States (¢/kWh)
Residential	18.04¢
Commercial	13.87¢
Industrial	8.91¢
All sectors	14.15¢

Inflation is national; electricity prices are not

The CPI's all-items figure is one number for the country. Electricity prices move state by state, with each utility's costs and rate decisions. Over the last 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026), the median state's residential average rose +6.1%. 10 states, counting DC, rose 10% or more, led by the District of Columbia (+19.8%), New Hampshire (+13.8%) and Maryland (+12.7%). At the other end, 2 of the 51 saw a decrease: Connecticut (−9.0%) and Nevada (−0.7%³).

District of Columbia+19.8%

New Hampshire+13.8%

Maryland+12.7%

Pennsylvania+12.3%

Washington+11.9%

Ohio+11.7%

Virginia+11.5%

New York+11.2%

Illinois+10.6%

New Jersey+10.2%

Idaho+9.8%

Maine+9.7%

Montana+9.5%

Hawaii+8.8%

Indiana+8.8%

South Dakota+8.2%

Michigan+8.0%

Colorado+7.9%

Mississippi+7.8%

Wyoming+7.5%

United States+6.5%

Source: EIA, Electric Power Monthly / EIA-861M sales and revenue by state. Change between the trailing 12-month average price and the 12 months before it. Period: September 2025 to August 2026.

Show the numbers

State	Residential change, 12 months
District of Columbia	+19.8%
New Hampshire	+13.8%
Maryland	+12.7%
Pennsylvania	+12.3%
Washington	+11.9%
Ohio	+11.7%
Virginia	+11.5%
New York	+11.2%
Illinois	+10.6%
New Jersey	+10.2%
Idaho	+9.8%
Maine	+9.7%
Montana	+9.5%
Hawaii	+8.8%
Indiana	+8.8%
South Dakota	+8.2%
Michigan	+8.0%
Colorado	+7.9%
Mississippi	+7.8%
Wyoming	+7.5%
United States	+6.5%

Several of the largest increases are in states served by PJM, the grid operator for much of the Mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley. LBNL's report attributes part of the 2025 increase there to capacity costs, which raised average PJM wholesale costs by 0.9¢ per kWh in 2025 against 2024, with wholesale energy costs up 1.7¢ per kWh⁴ as fuel prices rose. Our PJM capacity insight follows that thread.

BLS's regional average prices tell the same story at a coarser level. Comparing September 2026 with a year earlier, the average price rose +9.4% in the Midwest, +5.6% in the West, +4.7% in the Northeast and +0.6%² in the South, against +3.7%¹ for overall inflation. A household in the South and one in the Midwest lived through the same national inflation rate and very different electricity price changes. The full state list is in our price increase ranking.

Why electricity has outrun inflation lately

Inflation is one of the costs that reach electricity prices, not the only one. The LBNL review names several drivers:

• Grid equipment: price indexes for transmission and distribution equipment have risen well above the CPI since 2019, and supply-chain constraints added to the cost of replacing and hardening lines.
• Fuel: the price of natural gas delivered to power plants was +36.0%⁴ higher in 2025 than in 2024. Natural gas produced 40.9%⁷ of US electricity in 2025, according to EIA.
• Utility investment: investor-owned utilities' capital spending has outpaced inflation and is recovered over the life of the assets, so its effect on prices arrives with a delay.
• Storms, transmission and capacity: storm cost recovery, transmission costs in New England and capacity prices in PJM each raised prices in some states from 2024 to 2025.

The report found that price increases from 2024 to 2025 outpaced inflation in most states. It also notes that drivers differ from state to state and change from year to year.

Bills grew with prices and use

A bill is price times use, so it can rise faster or slower than the price. EIA's average residential bill was $150.68 a month in 2025, 5.9% more than the $142.26 of 2024, while the average price rose 4.6%⁶ and monthly use per home went from 863 kWh⁹ to 874 kWh⁸. Over the last 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026) the average monthly bill was $157.84³.

LBNL puts the rise in the average residential electricity bill at about $480 a year between 2019 and 2025, a small part of the total increase in household spending over the period. Measured against income, the review found the electricity burden worsened in 27 states + DC⁴ over the same years. For households that need help, federal LIHEAP funding was $4.07 billion¹⁰ in FY2026; our guide to help paying an electric bill covers how to apply.

What EIA forecasts for 2027

EIA's November 2026 Short-Term Energy Outlook forecasts a national residential average of 18.17¢ per kWh for 2026 (partly estimated) and 18.68¢ per kWh for 2027, a forecast change of +2.8%¹¹. That would be a smaller rise than in recent years. Whether it ends up above or below inflation depends on an inflation rate this outlook does not give, so we do not set the two side by side. The next edition is due December 8, 2026.

Actual (EIA-861)EIA forecast (STEO, November 2026)

Source: EIA, Historical state data, annual sales, revenue and customers; EIA, Short-Term Energy Outlook, November 2026. The forecast is EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook of November 10, 2026: 2026 combines published months with EIA's estimate, 2027 is a forecast. It is revised every month; the next edition is due December 8, 2026.

Show the numbers

Year	¢/kWh	Status
2015	12.65¢	actual
2016	12.55¢	actual
2017	12.89¢	actual
2018	12.87¢	actual
2019	13.01¢	actual
2020	13.15¢	actual
2021	13.66¢	actual
2022	15.04¢	actual
2023	16.00¢	actual
2024	16.48¢	actual
2025	17.23¢	actual
2026	18.17¢	EIA estimate/forecast
2027	18.68¢	EIA forecast

Method

The CPI for electricity (BLS series SEHF01, all urban consumers) tracks the price households pay for electricity service over time; the all-items CPI is the standard inflation measure. We quote 12-month changes for the latest month with a year-earlier value. BLS did not collect October 2025 prices, so the October 2026 index has no year-earlier comparison; the chart leaves that month out. Indexes are not seasonally adjusted except where marked.

EIA's average price is residential revenue divided by residential kWh sold, by state and month (EIA-861M and Electric Power Monthly; annual data from EIA-861, 2025 final). It is an average, not a tariff, and it excludes most taxes. The 12-month change compares the sum of 12 months' revenue over kWh with the same ratio for the 12 months before.

Inflation-adjusted figures are LBNL's, quoted as published (2026 edition, July update); LBNL adjusts with national and regional CPI data from BLS. "Nominal" means in the dollars of each year, "real" or "inflation-adjusted" means after removing general price growth. EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook figures are forecasts. How state rankings shift with the period chosen is explained in why electricity rankings disagree.