Maine electricity rates: a high price, a near-average bill

Maine's price per kWh, by period

Three figures answer "how much is electricity in Maine", and each covers a different stretch of time. All three are average revenue per kWh: what residential customers paid their utility and, where they shop, their supplier, divided by the kilowatt-hours they used. They include monthly customer charges and riders, so they are not the per-kWh line printed on a bill.

• Last 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026): 29.60¢ per kWh, 64.1% above the US average and the 4th highest among the 50 states and DC. The figure was 9.7% higher than in the 12 months before.
• Latest month (August 2026, preliminary): 32.11¢ per kWh, the 2nd highest in the country and 14.1% above August 2025 (28.14¢ per kWh). That year-on-year rise was the 2nd highest of any state; the US average rose 3.4%¹.
• Calendar year 2025 (final): 27.69¢ per kWh, the 6th highest³.

The highest 12-month averages were in Hawaii (44.27¢ per kWh), California (32.34¢ per kWh) and Massachusetts (30.39¢ per kWh). Maine's one neighboring state, New Hampshire, averaged 26.95¢ per kWh¹ over the same 12 months.

Hawaii44.27¢

California32.34¢

Massachusetts30.39¢

Maine29.60¢

Rhode Island29.44¢

New York28.60¢

Connecticut27.42¢

New Hampshire26.95¢

Alaska26.94¢

District of Columbia24.48¢

Vermont23.90¢

New Jersey23.74¢

United States18.04¢

Source: EIA, Electric Power Monthly / EIA-861M sales and revenue by state. Residential revenue divided by kilowatt-hours sold over the 12 months 2025-09 to 2026-08 (EIA-861M; months since January 2026 preliminary). Average revenue per kWh, all charges included; not a tariff. Period: September 2025 to August 2026.

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State	Residential ¢/kWh, 12 months
Hawaii	44.27¢
California	32.34¢
Massachusetts	30.39¢
Maine	29.60¢
Rhode Island	29.44¢
New York	28.60¢
Connecticut	27.42¢
New Hampshire	26.95¢
Alaska	26.94¢
District of Columbia	24.48¢
Vermont	23.90¢
New Jersey	23.74¢
United States	18.04¢

Small use, a March peak and a near-average bill

The average Maine home used 533 kWh a month in 2025, the 3rd lowest among the states and far below the US average of 874 kWh. That is why the average bill, $147.67 a month, ranked 25th highest despite the high price. The bill still rose 10.5% from $133.60 in 2024, the 8th highest² increase among the states, while use per home fell from 550 kWh⁴. Over the last 12 months the computed average bill was $156.19, against $157.84¹ for the US.

Summers are mild (300 cooling degree days a year on average over 2016 to 2025, the 5th lowest of the states with data), and winters are cold (7,420 heating degree days, the 5th highest⁵). Yet only 13.4% of Maine homes heat mainly with electricity, the 4th lowest share in the Census Bureau's 2025 survey, against 41.8%⁶ nationally, so most homes pay for winter heat with a fuel other than electricity.

Use per home still peaks in late winter. Over the last 12 months it was highest at 669 kWh in March 2026 and lowest at 441 kWh in July 2026, 1.5 times as much. The average price per kWh peaked at 32.41¢ per kWh in July 2026. Low-use months tend to show higher averages, because fixed monthly charges are spread over fewer kWh even when no rate changes. In August 2026 the average bill was $157.13 for 489 kWh, against $209.23 for 1,152 kWh¹ nationally.

Source: EIA, Electric Power Monthly / EIA-861M sales and revenue by state; EIA-861 2025, average monthly bill by state. Each dot is a state (horizontal: Residential ¢/kWh, 12 months; vertical: kWh a month, 2025). Residential revenue divided by kilowatt-hours sold over the 12 months 2025-09 to 2026-08 (EIA-861M; months since January 2026 preliminary). Average revenue per kWh, all charges included; not a tariff. Period: September 2025 to August 2026. Residential kilowatt-hours per customer per month, 2025.

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State	Residential ¢/kWh, 12 months	kWh a month, 2025
North Dakota	12.35¢	1,070
Nebraska	12.74¢	973
Idaho	12.77¢	933
Louisiana	13.02¢	1,225
Utah	13.26¢	761
Nevada	13.45¢	868
Arkansas	13.57¢	1,076
Tennessee	13.61¢	1,180
Oklahoma	13.81¢	1,064
Kentucky	13.94¢	1,094
Montana	13.94¢	853
Missouri	13.97¢	1,038
Wyoming	14.01¢	835
Iowa	14.20¢	861
Washington	14.20¢	945
South Dakota	14.28¢	984
North Carolina	14.79¢	1,044
Mississippi	14.85¢	1,184
Kansas	15.13¢	876
Georgia	15.17¢	1,077
New Mexico	15.31¢	638
Arizona	15.39¢	1,030
Florida	15.41¢	1,103
Oregon	15.53¢	866
West Virginia	15.53¢	1,073
South Carolina	15.77¢	1,067
Texas	15.98¢	1,110
Minnesota	16.28¢	744
Alabama	16.44¢	1,145
Colorado	16.61¢	658
Virginia	16.64¢	1,067
Indiana	16.90¢	938
Delaware	17.98¢	920
Ohio	18.41¢	874
Wisconsin	18.79¢	667
Illinois	18.91¢	717
Pennsylvania	20.86¢	839
Maryland	21.18¢	945
Michigan	21.28¢	635
New Jersey	23.74¢	670
Vermont	23.90¢	592
District of Columbia	24.48¢	639
Alaska	26.94¢	564
New Hampshire	26.95¢	640
Connecticut	27.42¢	704
New York	28.60¢	586
Rhode Island	29.44¢	562
Maine	29.60¢	533
Massachusetts	30.39¢	596
California	32.34¢	494
Hawaii	44.27¢	515

470Sep

469Oct

529Nov

527Dec

590Jan

635Feb

669Mar

570Apr

504May

444Jun

441Jul

489Aug

Source: EIA, Electric Power Monthly / EIA-861M sales and revenue by state. Residential kWh sold per customer in each month. The table adds that month's average residential price. Monthly EIA data through August 2026 (released October 23, 2026); months since January 2026 are preliminary.

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Month	kWh per customer	Residential ¢/kWh
September 2025	470	27.88¢
October 2025	469	26.56¢
November 2025	529	27.81¢
December 2025	527	30.32¢
January 2026	590	30.73¢
February 2026	635	32.17¢
March 2026	669	28.31¢
April 2026	570	28.42¢
May 2026	504	28.63¢
June 2026	444	29.59¢
July 2026	441	32.41¢
August 2026	489	32.11¢

Households report a similar picture. In the Census Bureau's 2025 American Community Survey the median monthly electricity bill reported by Maine households was about $166 (US: $169), and 24.8% reported $250 or more (±1.0 percentage points). These are survey estimates of a recalled bill, taxes included; the 4.4 percentage points⁷ change from the 2024 survey is a difference between two estimates, not tested for significance.

The second-steepest rise since 2015

Maine's residential average was 15.61¢ per kWh in 2015 and 27.69¢ per kWh in 2025, an increase of 77.4%. The largest increase over those years was in California (+84.5%); the US average rose 36.2%. In the five years before 2015 Maine's price had barely moved: it was 15.72¢ per kWh³ in 2010.

Most of the increase came in the last five years. From 2020, when Maine homes paid 16.81¢ per kWh, to 2025 the average rose 64.7%, again the 2nd highest among the states (US: 31.0%). The path was not a straight line. The annual average fell in 2024, from a higher level the year before, to 24.29¢ per kWh; 2025 then added 14.0%, the 3rd highest increase in the country. Over the full series, Maine's average rose in 14 of the years since 2002, against 21³ for the US.

MaineUnited States

Source: EIA, Historical state data, annual sales, revenue and customers; EIA, Historical state data, monthly sales and revenue 1990-2009. Average revenue per kWh (all charges, nominal dollars), each calendar year: 2010 onward EIA-861 final annual data, 2001–2009 the sum of the monthly survey.

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Period	Maine (¢/kWh)	United States (¢/kWh)
2001	13.13¢	8.58¢
2002	12.74¢	8.44¢
2003	12.37¢	8.72¢
2004	12.16¢	8.95¢
2005	13.23¢	9.45¢
2006	13.80¢	10.40¢
2007	16.52¢	10.65¢
2008	16.24¢	11.26¢
2009	15.64¢	11.51¢
2010	15.72¢	11.54¢
2011	15.38¢	11.72¢
2012	14.66¢	11.88¢
2013	14.35¢	12.13¢
2014	15.27¢	12.52¢
2015	15.61¢	12.65¢
2016	15.83¢	12.55¢
2017	15.97¢	12.89¢
2018	16.84¢	12.87¢
2019	17.89¢	13.01¢
2020	16.81¢	13.15¢
2021	17.02¢	13.66¢
2022	22.44¢	15.04¢
2023	27.42¢	16.00¢
2024	24.29¢	16.48¢
2025	27.69¢	17.23¢

Standard offer, suppliers and delivery charges

Every Maine home has its electricity delivered by the local utility, but the supply part of the bill is bought separately. Customers who have not chosen a competitive electricity provider receive the standard offer. According to the Maine Office of the Public Advocate, the standard offer is set through a bidding process at the Maine Public Utilities Commission, and its price changes once a year, on January 1.

Few households leave the standard offer. In 2025, 7.1% of residential customers (54,329 accounts) bought supply from one of the 14 competitive suppliers with residential customers in the state, against 15.1% nationally. The share was 8.0% at Central Maine Power and 5.8%⁹ at Versant Power.

Each group paid a different average in 2025, for a different part of the bill:

• standard-offer customers of the two investor-owned utilities paid 27.37¢ per kWh for supply and delivery together;
• supplier customers paid their supplier 14.92¢ per kWh for supply alone;
• the same supplier customers paid their utility 17.33¢ per kWh⁹ for delivery alone.

These figures belong to different customers and different services, so they cannot be added together or set against each other as a like-for-like comparison. The supply figure is an average of all supplier contracts in force during the year, not a price on offer today.

Utility full-service customers (default service): supply and delivery27.37¢

Competitive suppliers and CCAs: supply only14.92¢

Utility delivery for customers of a supplier: delivery only17.33¢

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Average revenue per kWh by service part, EIA-861 2025. Supply-only and delivery-only averages each cover only part of a bill and different groups of customers; adding them gives only a rough estimate of what a shopping customer paid in total.

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Part of the market	¢/kWh
Utility full-service customers (default service): supply and delivery	27.37¢
Competitive suppliers and CCAs: supply only	14.92¢
Utility delivery for customers of a supplier: delivery only	17.33¢

Delivery charges moved sharply. Central Maine Power's revenue per kWh from customers who buy only delivery from it went from 12.92¢ per kWh in 2024 to 17.11¢ per kWh in 2025 (+32.4%). At Versant Power the same measure went from 16.24¢ per kWh¹⁰ to 19.29¢ per kWh (+18.8%⁹). These delivery-only averages cover only customers with a supplier and are not comparable with the full-service figures above.

The 2026 monthly data show a further step. For January to August 2026, the residential average was 30.23¢ per kWh, +10.0% on the same months of 2025 (preliminary). Over the last 12 months, the monthly average ran from 26.56¢ per kWh in October 2025 to 32.41¢ per kWh in July 2026¹.

Central Maine Power, Versant and the small utilities

Two investor-owned utilities deliver almost all of Maine's electricity. Central Maine Power has 81.5% of the state's residential customers on its wires and reports service in 14 of the 16 counties. Versant Power has 15.2% and serves the north and east: Aroostook County, Hancock County, Penobscot County, Piscataquis County, Waldo County and Washington County¹¹. EIA counts 9 distribution utilities in the state; the others include Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative, a customer-owned cooperative, and small local utilities such as Kennebunk Light & Power Dist and Houlton Water Company⁹.

Among the larger utilities, Versant's full-service customers paid the most. In 2025 their average was 30.93¢ per kWh, 11.7% above the Maine average and the 8th highest of 177 large utilities in the country. Central Maine Power's averaged 27.41¢ per kWh, 12th highest of 177, after a rise of 17.0% on 2024. Among the 3 utilities with 10,000 or more full-service residential customers, Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative had the lowest average, 19.36¢ per kWh, a gap of 11.57¢ per kWh to Versant Power. Maine's 3 public power utilities, with 13,077 residential customers between them, averaged 13.94¢ per kWh⁹ for full service.

Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative19.36¢

Central Maine Power27.41¢

Maine average27.69¢

Versant Power30.93¢

Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. Utilities with 10,000 or more bundled (full-service) residential customers. Revenue divided by kWh sold, all charges included, EIA-861 2025 final. Darker bars have their own page. In this state, customers who buy supply from a competitive supplier are not in these averages (they pay delivery to the utility and supply to the supplier).

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Utility	¢/kWh
Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative	19.36¢
Central Maine Power	27.41¢
Maine average	27.69¢
Versant Power	30.93¢

In EIA's monthly data, over the last 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026) Versant's full-service customers paid 32.93¢ per kWh and Central Maine Power's 29.17¢ per kWh. In August 2026¹ alone the two averaged 34.10¢ per kWh and 32.32¢ per kWh, +8.5% and +15.9%¹² against a year earlier (preliminary).

A higher price did not mean a much higher bill. Versant's customers used 490 kWh a month in 2025, against 538 kWh at Central Maine Power, so the average bills were close: $151.41 and $147.32⁹.

In 9 counties more than one distribution utility reports service; Aroostook County has 4¹¹. EIA records service by county, not by street, so the utility's own territory map decides who serves an address.

Central Maine Power only (of these)Versant Power only (of these)Two or more of themOther utilities only

Source: EIA-861 2025, service territory; Census Bureau, Cartographic boundary file, counties. Counties where each utility reports serving customers (EIA-861 service territory, 2025). A utility often serves only part of a county, and several can share one: the map shows where each one is present, not street-level boundaries. Point at a county for every utility listed there.

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County	Utilities reporting service
Androscoggin County	Central Maine Power
Aroostook County	Versant Power, Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative, Houlton Water Company, Van Buren Light & Power Dist
Cumberland County	Central Maine Power
Franklin County	Central Maine Power
Hancock County	Central Maine Power, Versant Power
Kennebec County	Central Maine Power
Knox County	Central Maine Power, Fox Islands Electric Cooperative, Matinicus Plantation Electric Co
Lincoln County	Central Maine Power
Oxford County	Central Maine Power
Penobscot County	Central Maine Power, Versant Power, Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative
Piscataquis County	Central Maine Power, Versant Power
Sagadahoc County	Central Maine Power
Somerset County	Central Maine Power, Town of Madison
Waldo County	Central Maine Power, Versant Power
Washington County	Versant Power, Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative
York County	Central Maine Power, Kennebunk Light & Power Dist

Gas, wind, hydropower and biomass, no nuclear

Maine's power plants generated 14.8 terawatt-hours in 2025, the equivalent of 132% of the state's retail sales (US: 109%). Both large utilities sit in the regional grid run by ISO New England⁹. The largest source was natural gas at 39.1%, up 14.0 percentage points since 2015. Next came wind at 19.6% and hydropower at 17.2%, and solar went from 0.0% in 2015 to 10.0%. Renewable sources together supplied 57.7%, against 24.1%¹⁴ nationally.

Two shares stand out. The group we label "other sources", which in Maine is mostly biomass, supplied 12.7%, the 3rd highest share in the country, though down from 29.8% in 2015. And the state has no nuclear generation (0.0%), against 17.7%¹⁴ for the US.

Natural gasCoalNuclearHydroWindSolarPetroleumOther

Maine, 2025

Maine, 2015

United States, 2025

Source: EIA, Net generation by state by type of producer by energy source. Share of net generation by all power plants located in the state (utilities and independent producers), by energy source. Electricity crosses state lines, so this is what the state produces, not exactly what its customers consume. Pumped storage is a net user of power and is left out.

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	Natural gas	Coal	Nuclear	Hydro	Wind	Solar	Petroleum	Other
Maine, 2025	39.1%	0.2%	0.0%	17.2%	19.6%	10.0%	1.1%	12.7%
Maine, 2015	25.1%	0.8%	0.0%	28.6%	11.0%	0.0%	4.7%	29.8%
United States, 2025	40.9%	16.6%	17.7%	5.5%	10.4%	6.8%	0.4%	1.7%

Business electricity in Maine

Businesses also pay well above the national average. Over the last 12 months commercial customers paid 22.22¢ per kWh, 60.2% above the US average (8th highest), and industrial customers 15.57¢ per kWh, 74.7% above the US average. Both rose on the previous 12 months: 10.8% for commercial and 11.1% for industrial. The latest month broke the pattern: in August 2026 the industrial average was 14.24¢ per kWh, 6.7% below a year earlier, the 4th lowest change among the states, and the commercial average was nearly flat (+0.4%¹). Single months are preliminary and volatile.

Outages, smart meters and help paying

Maine customers lose power more often than most. In 2025 they averaged 2.24 interruptions each, the 4th highest count among the states, and 363 minutes without power including major storms. Excluding major event days the total was 192 minutes, still the 6th highest. Versant Power's customers averaged 500 minutes including storms, Central Maine Power's 318 minutes¹⁵. How that compares nationally is in the power outages ranking.

Nearly every home has a smart meter: 98.6% of residential meters were advanced meters in 2025, the 2nd highest share in the country. Few customers use them for time-varying pricing; 1.3% of residential customers were on such a rate. Rooftop solar is less common than nationally, with 18,997 net-metered residential installations, 25.4 per 1,000 residential customers against 38.1¹⁶ for the US.

Maine received $42.7 million from the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for fiscal 2026, $68.78 per occupied home, the 2nd highest amount among the states. The first fiscal 2027 release was $36.7 million¹⁷. The help paying your electric bill guide explains LIHEAP and utility assistance programs.