Rhode Island electricity rates and bills: one utility, two seasons

What a kilowatt-hour costs in Rhode Island

Three numbers answer the question, each for a different period. Over the 12 months from September 2025 to August 2026, Rhode Island's residential customers paid an average of 29.44¢ per kWh, 11.40¢ per kWh more than the US average and 63.2% above the US average. In the 2025 annual figures the average was 29.48¢ per kWh, the 4th highest³ among the 50 states and DC. In the single month of August 2026 it was 28.18¢ per kWh, 7th highest¹.

All three are average revenue per kWh: what homes paid for electricity in total, including customer charges, riders and supply from a competitive supplier, divided by the kilowatt-hours they used. None is the price printed on a bill, and none includes most taxes.

North Dakota 12.35¢Hawaii 44.27¢

Source: EIA, Electric Power Monthly / EIA-861M sales and revenue by state. Each dot is a 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¢
Michigan	21.28¢
Maryland	21.18¢
Pennsylvania	20.86¢
Illinois	18.91¢
Wisconsin	18.79¢
Ohio	18.41¢
Delaware	17.98¢
Indiana	16.90¢
Virginia	16.64¢
Colorado	16.61¢
Alabama	16.44¢
Minnesota	16.28¢
Texas	15.98¢
South Carolina	15.77¢
Oregon	15.53¢
West Virginia	15.53¢
Florida	15.41¢
Arizona	15.39¢
New Mexico	15.31¢
Georgia	15.17¢
Kansas	15.13¢
Mississippi	14.85¢
North Carolina	14.79¢
South Dakota	14.28¢
Iowa	14.20¢
Washington	14.20¢
Wyoming	14.01¢
Missouri	13.97¢
Kentucky	13.94¢
Montana	13.94¢
Oklahoma	13.81¢
Tennessee	13.61¢
Arkansas	13.57¢
Nevada	13.45¢
Utah	13.26¢
Louisiana	13.02¢
Idaho	12.77¢
Nebraska	12.74¢
North Dakota	12.35¢

The striking part of the last year is how little the average moved. The 12-month figure was 1.2% above the previous 12 months, the 5th lowest change among the states, against +6.5% nationally. For January to August 2026 the state's residential average was −0.1% on the same months of 2025, tied for 2nd lowest among the states. The latest single month shows a larger rise: August 2026 came in +6.2% on 26.53¢ per kWh¹ in August 2025. Monthly figures for 2026 are preliminary.

Of Rhode Island's 3 neighbors, 2 paid less over the same 12 months. Massachusetts had the highest average among them (30.39¢ per kWh) and Connecticut the lowest (27.42¢ per kWh¹).

A high price on a small amount of electricity

Rhode Island's average residential bill was $165.62 a month in 2025, $14.94 more a month than the US average and the 9th highest among the states, up 2.0% from $162.40⁴ in 2024. The bill ranks lower than the price because homes here use little electricity: 562 kWh a month in 2025, the 4th lowest in the country, against 874 kWh² nationally. EIA's household survey found the same in 2020, when the average Rhode Island home used 6,916 kWh a year, tied for 3rd lowest among the states (US: 10,580 kWh a year⁵).

Few homes heat with electricity. Only 13.8% of Rhode Island homes heated mainly with electricity in the Census Bureau's 2025 survey, the 5th lowest share among the states (US: 41.8%⁶). The state still averages 5,418⁷ heating degree days a year (NOAA, 2016 to 2025), but most of that winter demand is met with fuels other than electricity.

Over the last 12 months the computed average bill was $162.56, 18th highest (US: $157.84). In August 2026, a summer month, it was $176.03 for 625 kWh, against a US average of $209.23¹.

Households' own reports, which include taxes and recall one recent month, come out higher. In the 2025 American Community Survey, Rhode Island households paying for electricity reported a median bill of about $180 (US: $169), and 30.7% reported $250 or more (±1.7 percentage points), the 12th highest share in the country. That share was +3.6 percentage points⁸ on the 2024 survey, a difference between two estimates that is not tested for significance.

Under $50$50–99$100–149$150–199$200–249$250 or more

Rhode Island

United States

Source: Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2025 1-year estimates, table B25132. Households charged for electricity, by the cost they reported for the previous month (American Community Survey 2025, 1-year). Interviews run all year, so this is a typical month, recalled by the household; households whose electricity is included in rent are left out.

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	Under $50	$50–99	$100–149	$150–199	$200–249	$250 or more
Rhode Island	4.4%	18.3%	18.6%	14.5%	13.4%	30.7%
United States	5.2%	17.9%	20.7%	16.7%	13.0%	26.6%

Winter kilowatt-hours cost more

Heavy summer use usually pulls the average price per kWh down, because fixed charges are spread over more kilowatt-hours. In Rhode Island a second force works in the same direction and shows up as a step. Rhode Island Energy prices the supply for customers who do not shop, its Last Resort Service, in two blocks: a winter period from October 1 to March 31 and a summer period. Each is reviewed by the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission, as in its docket for the winter rates that took effect on October 1, 2025.

EIA's monthly data show the step. Over the 12 months from September 2025 to August 2026, the state's highest residential average was 31.18¢ per kWh in October 2025 and the lowest 28.18¢ per kWh in August 2026¹. The winter supply price takes effect each October 1. The chart shows the same sawtooth in earlier years, with the November 2024 reading standing out as a single-month spike.

Rhode IslandUnited States

Source: EIA, Electric Power Monthly / EIA-861M sales and revenue by state. Average revenue per kWh (all charges, nominal dollars), each month; summer and winter months differ by season. Monthly EIA data through August 2026 (released October 23, 2026); months since January 2026 are preliminary.

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Period	Rhode Island (¢/kWh)	United States (¢/kWh)
Jan 2022	23.56¢	13.64¢
Feb 2022	25.70¢	13.76¢
Mar 2022	23.48¢	14.41¢
Apr 2022	20.27¢	14.57¢
May 2022	19.93¢	14.89¢
Jun 2022	23.52¢	15.30¢
Jul 2022	19.40¢	15.31¢
Aug 2022	21.45¢	15.82¢
Sep 2022	24.39¢	16.19¢
Oct 2022	24.60¢	15.99¢
Nov 2022	28.62¢	15.55¢
Dec 2022	27.52¢	14.94¢
Jan 2023	28.94¢	15.47¢
Feb 2023	29.08¢	15.98¢
Mar 2023	27.91¢	16.04¢
Apr 2023	23.54¢	16.10¢
May 2023	26.84¢	16.14¢
Jun 2023	23.83¢	16.09¢
Jul 2023	24.31¢	15.86¢
Aug 2023	25.54¢	15.91¢
Sep 2023	25.27¢	16.27¢
Oct 2023	30.08¢	16.48¢
Nov 2023	29.78¢	16.19¢
Dec 2023	30.86¢	15.69¢
Jan 2024	31.37¢	15.41¢
Feb 2024	31.17¢	16.10¢
Mar 2024	30.47¢	16.67¢
Apr 2024	28.15¢	16.86¢
May 2024	28.29¢	16.40¢
Jun 2024	27.27¢	16.38¢
Jul 2024	25.76¢	16.62¢
Aug 2024	26.83¢	16.60¢
Sep 2024	28.71¢	16.82¢
Oct 2024	27.76¢	17.09¢
Nov 2024	35.61¢	16.85¢
Dec 2024	25.40¢	16.27¢
Jan 2025	31.68¢	15.92¢
Feb 2025	33.31¢	16.40¢
Mar 2025	32.32¢	17.03¢
Apr 2025	28.91¢	17.20¢
May 2025	29.02¢	17.33¢
Jun 2025	26.86¢	17.44¢
Jul 2025	26.20¢	17.39¢
Aug 2025	26.53¢	17.57¢
Sep 2025	28.33¢	18.05¢
Oct 2025	31.18¢	17.95¢
Nov 2025	30.84¢	17.77¢
Dec 2025	31.17¢	17.11¢
Jan 2026	30.14¢	17.45¢
Feb 2026	29.45¢	17.65¢
Mar 2026	29.91¢	18.60¢
Apr 2026	28.30¢	18.86¢
May 2026	29.46¢	18.44¢
Jun 2026	29.23¢	18.34¢
Jul 2026	28.29¢	18.31¢
Aug 2026	28.18¢	18.16¢

Use per home follows a different calendar. It peaked at 766 kWh in July 2026 and fell to 438 kWh in October 2025, a ratio of 1.7 times¹. The heaviest-use summer months carry the lower summer supply price, which damps the swing in bills: summer bills are larger because of use, not price.

478Sep

438Oct

455Nov

603Dec

633Jan

581Feb

524Mar

513Apr

503May

485Jun

766Jul

625Aug

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	478	28.33¢
October 2025	438	31.18¢
November 2025	455	30.84¢
December 2025	603	31.17¢
January 2026	633	30.14¢
February 2026	581	29.45¢
March 2026	524	29.91¢
April 2026	513	28.30¢
May 2026	503	29.46¢
June 2026	485	29.23¢
July 2026	766	28.29¢
August 2026	625	28.18¢

Rhode Island Energy and two small districts

One company delivers electricity to almost the whole state. Rhode Island Energy, legally The Narragansett Electric Company, had 98.7% of Rhode Island's residential customers on its wires in 2025 and reports service in all 5 counties. Its full-service residential customers paid 29.45¢ per kWh that year, 65.6% above the national average for investor-owned utilities and the 9th highest of 177 large utilities nationally. Their average bill was $165.83 for 563 kWh⁹. The Rhode Island Energy page covers its price history, delivery charges and monthly bills.

The state has 0 electric cooperatives. The rest of the homes are served by 2 public power districts: Clear River Electric and Water District, with 0.9% of residential customers, and Block Island Utility District, with 0.4%. Together their 6,025 residential customers paid an average of 22.46¢ per kWh in 2025, against 29.45¢ per kWh⁹ for Rhode Island Energy's full-service customers. The districts serve small, fixed areas; nobody can move between utilities without moving house.

2¹⁰ counties have more than one distribution utility, Providence County among them. EIA records service by county, not by street, so the utility's own map decides who serves an address.

Rhode Island Energy 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
Bristol County	Rhode Island Energy
Kent County	Rhode Island Energy
Newport County	Rhode Island Energy
Providence County	Rhode Island Energy, Clear River Electric and Water District
Washington County	Rhode Island Energy, Block Island Utility District

Last Resort Service or a competitive supplier

Customers on Rhode Island Energy's wires can keep the utility's Last Resort Service or buy supply from a competitive supplier, while the utility keeps delivering the power and billing for delivery. In 2025, 25.9% of the state's residential customers (115,135) bought from a supplier, the 6th highest share among the states (US: 15.1%). EIA counted 16⁹ suppliers with residential customers in the state.

EIA's 2025 figures split the market three ways. Homes on Last Resort Service paid Rhode Island Energy 29.12¢ per kWh, a bundled average covering both supply and delivery. Homes with a supplier paid that supplier 14.34¢ per kWh, covering supply alone, and paid Rhode Island Energy 16.29¢ per kWh, covering delivery alone. Those last two averages are spread over different sets of kilowatt-hours and contracts, so this page sets them next to each other and never sums them. The supplier figure is a past average across every contract that ran during the year; it is not on offer. Delivery-only customers of Rhode Island Energy paid 16.29¢ per kWh in 2025, a change of +7.2%⁹ from 15.19¢ per kWh¹² in 2024.

Utility full-service customers (default service): supply and delivery29.12¢

Competitive suppliers and CCAs: supply only14.34¢

Utility delivery for customers of a supplier: delivery only16.29¢

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	29.12¢
Competitive suppliers and CCAs: supply only	14.34¢
Utility delivery for customers of a supplier: delivery only	16.29¢

The most gas-dependent generation in the country

Natural gas produced 88.3% of Rhode Island's electricity in 2025, against 40.9% nationally; ranked by gas share, the state was 1st of 51 among the states and DC. The state had 0.0% coal and 0.0% nuclear generation. Solar has grown from 0.2% in 2015 to 7.1%, wind to 2.0%, and the gas share has fallen 6.6 percentage points from 94.9%¹³.

Rhode Island's plants generated 9.8 terawatt-hours in 2025, the equivalent of 132% of the state's retail sales (US: 109%¹³). The state is part of the regional market run by ISO New England⁹, and its plants sell into that regional market.

Natural gasCoalNuclearHydroWindSolarPetroleumOther

Rhode Island, 2025

Rhode Island, 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
Rhode Island, 2025	88.3%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	2.0%	7.1%	0.7%	1.9%
Rhode Island, 2015	94.9%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.2%	1.6%	3.0%
United States, 2025	40.9%	16.6%	17.7%	5.5%	10.4%	6.8%	0.4%	1.7%

Businesses pay near the top too

The high price is not limited to homes. Over the last 12 months commercial customers paid an average of 23.60¢ per kWh (4th highest, 70.2% above the US average) and industrial customers 21.51¢ per kWh (3rd highest, 141.4% above the US average¹). In the 2025 annual figures, Rhode Island's industrial average of 21.40¢ per kWh was the 2nd highest³ in the country.

Changes were small here as well. Over the same 12 months the commercial average rose 0.1% (US: 5.7%) and the industrial average 1.6% (US: 6.5%¹).

Rhode IslandUnited States

Residential29.44¢ 18.04¢

Commercial23.60¢ 13.87¢

Industrial21.51¢ 8.91¢

All sectors25.92¢ 14.15¢

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.

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Sector	Rhode Island (¢/kWh)	United States (¢/kWh)
Residential	29.44¢	18.04¢
Commercial	23.60¢	13.87¢
Industrial	21.51¢	8.91¢
All sectors	25.92¢	14.15¢

How the price got here

The flat year follows a long climb. Rhode Island's annual residential average went from 15.92¢ per kWh in 2010 to 29.48¢ per kWh in 2025, up 85.2%, the 3rd highest increase among the states over that period (US: 49.3%). Since 2001, when it was 12.13¢ per kWh¹⁴, the rise is 143.0%. The annual average went up in 18 of the years since 2002; the latest annual decline was in 2017, and 2025 added 2.9%³.

Rhode IslandUnited 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	Rhode Island (¢/kWh)	United States (¢/kWh)
2001	12.13¢	8.58¢
2002	10.20¢	8.44¢
2003	11.61¢	8.72¢
2004	12.19¢	8.95¢
2005	13.04¢	9.45¢
2006	15.12¢	10.40¢
2007	14.05¢	10.65¢
2008	17.45¢	11.26¢
2009	15.60¢	11.51¢
2010	15.92¢	11.54¢
2011	14.33¢	11.72¢
2012	14.40¢	11.88¢
2013	15.20¢	12.13¢
2014	17.17¢	12.52¢
2015	19.29¢	12.65¢
2016	18.62¢	12.55¢
2017	18.32¢	12.89¢
2018	20.55¢	12.87¢
2019	21.73¢	13.01¢
2020	22.01¢	13.15¢
2021	22.30¢	13.66¢
2022	23.21¢	15.04¢
2023	27.02¢	16.00¢
2024	28.65¢	16.48¢
2025	29.48¢	17.23¢

Meters, panels, outages and assistance

Smart meters are still the exception. Advanced meters made up 40.1% of residential meters in 2025, 6th lowest among the states, and EIA records 0.0% of homes on a time-varying rate, against 11.3% nationally. Rooftop panels are a different matter: utilities reported 19,998 net-metered residential solar installations that year, or 43.0 for every thousand residential customers, above the US figure of 38.1¹⁵. Power those panels make and consume at home is not sold by the utility, so it is missing from the kWh-per-home averages earlier on this page.

On an ordinary day the lights rarely go out. Leaving out major storms, a Rhode Island customer spent 60 minutes without power over 2025, 2nd lowest of any state. With storms included the total reached 183 minutes, with an average of 0.96¹⁶ interruptions per customer. Every state is compared in the power outages ranking.

For households behind on bills, the state's fiscal 2026 allocation from LIHEAP, the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, was $26.8 million. Per occupied home that comes to $59.48, 5th highest nationally. The first fiscal 2027 tranche was $23.6 million¹⁷. Our help paying your electric bill guide walks through LIHEAP and utility payment programs.