How US electricity pricing actually works
The 515 rate plans in our index tell you what your utility charges. These explain why it charges that, what the words on your bill mean, and which of them you can do anything about.
Bill basics
- How to read your electric bill
Four kinds of charge, only two of which you can do anything about.
- What is a kilowatt-hour? The unit on your electric bill, explained
Watts are how fast. Kilowatt-hours are how much. The bill only counts the second one.
- Delivery vs. supply on your electric bill
Half your bill is a service you cannot shop for. Knowing which half matters.
- Choosing an electricity supplier vs. choosing a rate plan: which one are you doing?
Two different decisions that get confused for each other. Only one is available everywhere.
- Tiered billing for electricity: why the last kWh costs more
A cheap allowance, then a cliff. Where the cliff sits is the whole game.
- Fixed charges on your electric bill: what they are and why they matter
The line that makes cents-per-kilowatt-hour comparisons quietly wrong.
- Seasonal electric rates: why the price changes in June and October
The tariff has two halves. The bill does not tell you which one you are in.
- Rate zones: why the same utility charges your neighbour a different price
Same utility, same plan, different price. The zone is on your bill and in no public dataset.
- What is a demand charge on a residential electric bill?
Billed for your worst hour, not your total. Rare on homes, and growing.
Time-of-use
- What is a time-of-use electricity rate?
The same kilowatt-hour, priced differently depending on when you use it.
- When is electricity cheapest? Off-peak hours explained
Overnight, usually. All weekend, often. The exact hours are in your tariff, not in a rule of thumb.
- Should you switch to a time-of-use electricity plan?
A wide peak-to-off-peak gap is a lever, not a saving. Levers need something to move.
- Heat pumps and time-of-use rates: does the plan that suits your car suit your heating?
Heating peaks at 7am, cooling at 5pm. Which of those your tariff punishes decides the answer.
- What is critical peak pricing? Peak-day events on your electric bill, explained
A dozen brutally expensive afternoons a year, in exchange for a discount on the other 353 days.
Spending less
- When should you charge an electric car at home?
The single biggest load most homes can move, and the easiest to automate.
- Why is my electric bill so high in summer?
Usually three causes at once, and only one of them is your air conditioner.
- Why is my electric bill so high? Seven causes, in the order to check them
Seven causes, ranked by how often they are the answer. Only two are about using more.
- How to compare electricity plans without getting it wrong
Six things that break a comparison, and the order to check them in.
- How to switch electric rate plans with your utility
One call or one form. Free. The traps are the minimum term, the meter, and the wrong plan.
- Is a timer on your electric water heater worth it?
The second-biggest movable load in most homes. Worth nothing on a flat rate, real money on the right one.
- Budget billing: does paying the same amount every month save money?
It changes when you pay, not what you pay. Useful anyway, for reasons that have nothing to do with the rate.
Our data
- Which US electricity plans have the biggest peak to off-peak gap?
We measured every time-of-use plan we track. The tail is much longer than the middle.
- Electricity rates by state: what the filed tariffs actually say
Median rates from the tariffs themselves, not a state-level average.
- How we turn a tariff into a dollar figure: the three households, hour by hour
Three made-up but realistic homes, 8,760 hours each, the same tariff. What that number means and what it leaves out.
- Solar and net metering: why our numbers do not apply to a house with panels
Panels change the question from "what do you use" to "when do you export." A different calculation.