Methodology

This page explains exactly how every number on Consulnest is produced, so anyone can check it.

Electricity: source data

Electricity figures come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Electricity retail sales to ultimate customers, residential sector, monthly (Forms EIA-861M and EIA-861), retrieved through the EIA Open Data API. For each state and month the EIA reports the average price (cents per kWh), total sales (million kWh) and the number of customers.

How we calculate each figure

• Price per kWh: the EIA average residential price for the state and month, as published.
• Typical monthly use: total residential sales divided by the number of residential customers, in kWh, rounded to the nearest kWh.
• Average monthly bill: price per kWh × typical monthly use, rounded to the nearest dollar. EIA's average price is residential revenue divided by kWh sold, and that revenue includes the customer service (fixed) charges, demand charges, surcharges and fuel adjustments utilities bill to customers (EIA-861 instructions), so the average bill already spreads those charges across every kWh. Your own bill differs with your utility's rate plan, your fixed charge and any taxes added to the bill.
• Change from a year earlier: the average bill compared with the same month one year before, so that seasonal differences in use do not distort the comparison.
• Rank: all 50 states and the District of Columbia ordered by average monthly bill, 1 = lowest. Ties are broken by price per kWh.
• Neighbor comparison: states that share a land border. Alaska and Hawaii have none.
• U.S. average: the EIA's national total for the same month.

Timing

The EIA publishes monthly data with a lag of about two months. We check for new data every day and refresh all pages when a new month appears. Each page states the data month it uses.

Quality checks

1. Every data file is validated before use: prices must fall within plausible bounds, all 51 states must be present, and ranks must run exactly from 1 to 51.
2. An independent check recalculates each page's headline figures straight from the raw EIA rows and blocks publication on any mismatch.
3. Every number written in a page's text must exist in that page's data; numbers in charts and tables are drawn from the data directly.
4. The editor, Otto Pop, reads a sample of each day's published pages with their check results and approves every new topic. Not every page is read by a person before publication.

Limitations

State averages hide large differences between utilities, rate plans and homes. Use the calculator on each state page with the kWh and price from your own bill for a personal estimate.

Found a problem? Tell us. Corrections are listed on the corrections page.