NOVEC: what members pay per kWh and per month
NOVEC's 169,027 residential customers in Virginia paid an average of 12.60¢ per kWh in 2025, for an average bill of $143.90 a month on 1,142 kWh.1
EIA-861 2025 final, released October 7, 2026; the next annual release is due in August 2027. Averages are revenue divided by kWh, all charges included: not the rate printed in a tariff.
7 of 133 Virginia counties served (EIA-861 2025)
NOVEC's residential members paid 12.60¢ per kWh on average in 2025, 17.5% below the Virginia average, while Dominion Energy Virginia, which also reports customers in every county NOVEC serves, averaged 15.20¢ per kWh. The gap held even though NOVEC's average rose 8.9%1 from 2024, the fastest increase of Virginia's four largest utilities. Its members also averaged 94 minutes without power in 2025, against 462 minutes8 statewide.
The average price, and where it ranks
Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative, known as NOVEC, is a member-owned electric cooperative with 169,027 residential customers in 2025, the fourth-largest residential base in Virginia (4.7% of the state's homes). In EIA's annual survey its residential members paid an average of 12.60¢ per kWh1. That figure is average revenue per kWh: everything billed to residential accounts, fixed monthly charges and cost adjustments included, divided by the kWh they used. A member who uses little electricity pays more than this per kWh, because the fixed charge is spread over fewer kWh.
On that 2025 average, NOVEC was:
- the 4th lowest of the 17 Virginia utilities with 10,000 or more residential customers, behind City of Harrisonburg at 11.51¢ per kWh;
- 17.5% below the Virginia average (15.28¢ per kWh2 across all Virginia providers);
- 10.6% below the national average for electric cooperatives (14.10¢ per kWh);
- tied for 26th lowest of 177 US utilities with 100,000 or more residential customers, whose median was 15.07¢ per kWh1.
NOVEC is not in EIA's monthly utility sample, so unlike Dominion it has no 12-month or latest-month figure. The 2025 annual average, published in final form on October 7, 2026, is the most recent official number.
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.
Show the numbers
| Utility | ¢/kWh |
|---|---|
| City of Harrisonburg | 11.51¢ |
| Bristol Virginia Utilities | 11.62¢ |
| City of Manassas | 12.31¢ |
| NOVEC | 12.60¢ |
| Prince George Electric Cooperative | 13.52¢ |
| Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative | 14.32¢ |
| A & N Electric Cooperative | 14.40¢ |
| Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative | 14.49¢ |
| Dominion Energy Virginia | 15.20¢ |
| Virginia average | 15.28¢ |
| Kentucky Utilities Co | 15.32¢ |
| Southside Electric Cooperative | 15.48¢ |
| Rappahannock Electric Cooperative | 15.49¢ |
| City of Salem | 15.51¢ |
| City of Danville | 15.81¢ |
| Northern Neck Electric Cooperative | 16.01¢ |
| Central Virginia Electric Cooperative | 16.16¢ |
| Appalachian Power | 17.16¢ |
Below Dominion in the same seven counties
NOVEC's territory covers parts of 7 counties and independent cities: Clarke County, Fairfax County, Fauquier County, Loudoun County, Manassas Park city, Prince William County and Stafford County3. EIA's service-territory records list Dominion Energy Virginia in all of them, and in none is NOVEC the only distribution utility. Neighboring homes can therefore be on different utilities with different prices, and a ZIP code or town name does not settle which one applies.
In 2025, Dominion Energy Virginia residential customers paid 15.20¢ per kWh on average and NOVEC's 12.60¢ per kWh. The two other large Virginia utilities were higher still: Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, the other large cooperative, at 15.49¢ per kWh, and Appalachian Power at 17.16¢ per kWh1.
Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. EIA-861 2025 final. Average revenue per kWh is all charges divided by kWh; it is not a tariff rate.
Show the numbers
| Utility | average residential price (bundled customers) |
|---|---|
| NOVEC (VA) | 12.60¢ |
| Dominion Energy Virginia (VA) | 15.20¢ |
| Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (VA) | 15.49¢ |
| Appalachian Power (VA) | 17.16¢ |
The ranking is for 2025 only. Dominion's average has risen since: 17.27¢ per kWh4 over the last 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026, 2026 months preliminary). Because NOVEC has no monthly series, EIA's data cannot yet show whether the 2025 gap between the two has held in 2026.
The bill: lower than Dominion's despite higher use
NOVEC's average residential bill was $143.90 a month in 2025, for 1,142 kWh of use. NOVEC homes used more electricity than Dominion's (1,038 kWh), yet paid less each month than Dominion's average of $157.75, because the price gap outweighed the difference in use. Rappahannock's members, who used 1,195 kWh, averaged $185.191.
Source: EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final. EIA-861 2025 final. Average revenue per kWh is all charges divided by kWh; it is not a tariff rate.
Show the numbers
| Utility | average monthly residential bill |
|---|---|
| NOVEC (VA) | $143.90 |
| Dominion Energy Virginia (VA) | $157.75 |
| Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (VA) | $185.19 |
| Appalachian Power (VA) | $186.00 |
Against the statewide figures, the NOVEC bill was below the Virginia average of $163.05 and the US average of $150.685 for 2025. These are annual averages; a home with electric heat or above-average use pays more than them in its heaviest months, and EIA publishes no monthly NOVEC figures from which to measure the season.
2025: the largest increase among Virginia's big four
From 2024 to 2025, NOVEC's residential average rose from 11.57¢ per kWh6 to 12.60¢ per kWh (+8.9%). Over the same two years Dominion's average rose 7.9%, Rappahannock's 4.0% and Appalachian Power's 0.8%1; the Virginia average across all providers rose 6.0%2.
Use per home barely moved, 1,144 kWh in 2024 and 1,142 kWh in 2025, so the bill followed the price: from $132.366 to $143.90 (+8.7%1). EIA's averages show that members paid more, not which charge changed; the cooperative's rate schedules and notices to members list the components.
For 2026, the only official reading is statewide. Virginia's residential average over the last 12 months (September 2025 to August 2026) was 16.64¢ per kWh, +11.5%7 on the 12 months before, a figure dominated by Dominion, which serves 66.5%1 of the state's residential customers. It is not a measure of NOVEC's prices.
Commercial accounts buy most of NOVEC's power
NOVEC had 15,077 commercial accounts in 2025, against 169,027 residential ones, and EIA lists no industrial accounts for that year: its 184,104 customers were residential and commercial only. The commercial accounts paid an average of 9.54¢ per kWh, and their average bill was $6,504.60 a month. That is several times the Virginia average commercial bill of $1,608.32, itself the 2nd highest5 among the states, and well above Dominion's commercial average of $1,817.861.
The average across all of NOVEC's customers, 10.03¢ per kWh, sits much closer to the commercial price than to the residential 12.60¢ per kWh1. An all-customer average is weighted by kWh, so this means commercial accounts used most of the electricity NOVEC sold. EIA's survey does not break commercial customers down by type of business.
Fewer outage minutes than the state
NOVEC members averaged 94 minutes without power in 2025 including major events, against a Virginia average of 462 minutes, which ranked 7th highest among the states. Excluding major event days, NOVEC's figure was 43 minutes (state: 183 minutes). Each customer saw 0.98 interruptions on average, against 2.008 statewide.
NOVEC and Rappahannock (428 minutes) both report under IEEE 1366, so their minutes are directly comparable. Dominion (307 minutes8) uses another method (not IEEE 1366), which makes its figure only a rough guide against the two cooperatives.
Source: EIA-861 2025, reliability. EIA-861 2025 final. Average revenue per kWh is all charges divided by kWh; it is not a tariff rate.
Show the numbers
| Utility | outage minutes per customer (all events) |
|---|---|
| NOVEC (VA) | 94 |
| Dominion Energy Virginia (VA) | 307 |
| Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (VA) | 428 |
| Appalachian Power (VA) | 1,116 |
Meters, time-of-use and rooftop solar
Advanced meters, which record when electricity is used, made up 47.6% of NOVEC's residential meters in 2025, well short of Rappahannock (100.0%) and Dominion (99.8%9). NOVEC reported no residential enrollment in time-of-use or other time-varying pricing to EIA for 2025; the cooperative's current rate schedules show which options are offered. The guide to high bills covers what else drives a monthly total.
Rooftop solar is about as common as at Dominion and Rappahannock: 3,981 net-metered residential installations with 32.2 megawatts of capacity, or 23.6 per 1,000 residential customers, against 22.7 and 22.99 respectively.
Service area and help with bills
The map shows the counties and independent cities where NOVEC reports customers to EIA. NOVEC operates within the PJM1 grid region. Its own service map decides whether a particular address is a NOVEC or a Dominion address.
Source: EIA-861 2025, service territory; Census Bureau, Cartographic boundary file, counties. EIA-861 2025 service territory: 7 counties. Counts whole counties even where the utility serves only part of one; check the utility's own service-area map for an address.
Show the numbers
| County | Other utilities reporting service |
|---|---|
| Clarke County | Dominion Energy Virginia, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative |
| Fairfax County | Dominion Energy Virginia |
| Fauquier County | Dominion Energy Virginia, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative |
| Loudoun County | Dominion Energy Virginia |
| Manassas Park city | Dominion Energy Virginia |
| Prince William County | Dominion Energy Virginia |
| Stafford County | Dominion Energy Virginia, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, Northern Neck Electric Cooperative |
Virginia received $103.9 million11 in federal LIHEAP energy-assistance funds for fiscal year 2026, the program that helps low-income households with heating and cooling bills. For every utility in the state and how Virginia compares nationally, see electricity in Virginia.
NOVEC rates and bills: common questions
What is NOVEC's rate per kWh?
A rate schedule has several parts, a fixed monthly charge and per-kWh charges among them, so no single line is the rate. What EIA reports is the average: residential revenue divided by residential kWh, 12.60¢ per kWh1 in 2025, up from 11.57¢ per kWh6 in 2024. It includes the fixed charge and excludes most taxes.
What is the average NOVEC electric bill?
$143.90 a month in 2025, for an average use of 1,142 kWh1 per home, according to EIA. The Virginia average residential bill that year was $163.055.
Did NOVEC raise rates in 2026?
EIA does not survey NOVEC every month, so there is no official 2026 figure for it yet; the next annual data for every utility are due in August 2027. The latest full year shows a rise of 8.9%1 from 2024 to 2025. Changes to NOVEC's charges are announced in the cooperative's own rate schedules.
Can I choose between NOVEC and Dominion?
No. Each address is served by one distribution utility, and NOVEC and Dominion both report customers in each of the same counties, so only the utilities' service maps settle which one serves a home. EIA counted 01 Virginia residential customers buying from a competitive supplier in 2025.
Related pages
Sources
- EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2025 final; table Sales_Ult_Cust_2025; 2025, final; released October 7, 2026. www.eia.gov
- EIA, Historical state data, annual sales, revenue and customers; table HS861 2010-.xlsx; 2010-2025, final; released October 7, 2026. www.eia.gov
- EIA-861 2025, service territory; table Service_Territory_2025; 2025, final; released October 7, 2026. www.eia.gov
- EIA-861M monthly sales and revenue by utility; table sales_ult_cust_2025 and _2026; released October 23, 2026. www.eia.gov
- EIA-861 2025, average monthly bill by state; table Average_Bill_2025; 2025, final; released October 7, 2026. www.eia.gov
- EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2024 final; table Sales_Ult_Cust_2024; 2024, final (file updated December 3, 2025); released December 3, 2025. www.eia.gov
- EIA, Electric Power Monthly / EIA-861M sales and revenue by state; table sales_revenue.xlsx (EPM Table 5.6.A); January 2001 to 2026-08; months since January 2026 preliminary; released October 23, 2026. www.eia.gov
- EIA-861 2025, reliability; table Reliability_2025; 2025, final; released October 7, 2026. www.eia.gov
- EIA-861 2025, advanced meters, dynamic pricing and net metering; table Advanced_Meters, Dynamic_Pricing, Net_Metering 2025; 2025, final; released October 7, 2026. www.eia.gov
- Census Bureau, Cartographic boundary file, counties; table cb_2025_us_county_5m; cb_2021_us_county_5m; 2025 (2021 for Connecticut). www.census.gov
- HHS, LIHEAP funding releases to states; table FY2027 first release; FY2026 final; FY2027 first release (October 9, 2026); FY2026 total; released October 9, 2026. acf.gov
How every figure is built: methodology. Found an error? Write to [email protected]; corrections are listed on the updates page.