Why is my electric bill so high?

A bill goes up for one of two reasons: you used more electricity, or each kWh cost more. The bill tells you which. Find two numbers on it: the kWh used in the period and the total amount due. Divide the total by the kWh and you get your all-in price per kWh, fixed charges and taxes included.

Now compare with the same month last year, not last month. January against December tells you nothing; January against last January tells you a lot. Also check the number of days in the billing period. A 33-day bill against a 28-day one is almost 18% more days, and the kWh will rise with it even if nothing changed. Dividing kWh by days gives kWh per day, the cleanest number to compare.

• kWh per day went up: something in the house is using more. Go through the causes below in order.
• kWh per day is flat but the bill is higher: the price changed. Skip to the rate and fixed-charge section.

Seasons do more than people expect. In our degree-day model, December and January each carry about a fifth of a year's heating, and July about a quarter of a year's cooling. A house with electric heat and central air can easily have two expensive peaks a year with cheap spring and fall months between them, so a January bill next to an October one always looks alarming.

For scale, the average residential bill is $140.00 a month nationally and $175.00 in Texas, where air conditioning runs most of the year. Every state's average bill is in the electricity cost by state ranking.

If your bill spikes in winter, heating is almost always the reason, and nothing else in a house comes close. The calculators on this site estimate a home's yearly heating need from its size, insulation and the state's heating degree-days. For a 2,000 sq ft house with average insulation in a climate like the US average (4,500 heating degree-days), that is about 75.6 million BTU of heat a year.

Delivered by electric resistance (baseboard heaters, an electric furnace, or a heat pump's backup strips), 75.6 million BTU is about 22,160 kWh a year. January alone is about 20% of a typical year's heating, so roughly 4,430 kWh in one month: $804.49 at the national average rate. A heat pump in the same climate (seasonal COP 2.8 in our model) needs about 1,580 kWh for the same January, $286.93.

That gap is why a heat pump bill can suddenly look like a baseboard bill: when the backup resistance heat runs a lot, during a cold snap, after a deep thermostat setback or when the heat pump needs service, you pay resistance prices. If your heat pump thermostat shows "aux" or "emergency heat" often, that is your first suspect.

A single portable space heater is smaller but still big: 1,500 W for 6 hours a day is 270 kWh a month, $49.03 at the national rate. Price your own in the space heater calculator. If you heat with gas, the furnace blower still uses electricity, but the gas bill is where heating shows up.

The summer version of the same story. A 3-ton central air conditioner with a SEER2 of 14 draws about 2,570 W while the compressor runs. Eight hours a day for 30 days is about 617 kWh, $112.05 at the national average and $98.16 in Texas. In our model's cooling season, July and August together carry half of the year's cooling, so those two bills take the hit.

Things that push AC use up without you noticing: a dirty filter or coil, a thermostat set a few degrees lower than last year, a refrigerant leak (the unit runs longer and cools less), and a system that is oversized or undersized for the house. Estimate yours in the central AC calculator, or see the air conditioner cost per month guide for window units and mini splits.

After heating and cooling, water heating is the biggest energy use in most homes. An electric tank (UEF 0.92) heating 64 gallons a day by 70 °F, about a family of four, uses about 11.9 kWh a day: roughly 357 kWh a month, $64.83 at the national rate.

It also rises in winter without anyone using more hot water, because the water coming into the house is colder and the heater has to raise it further. A new houseguest, a teenager's 20-minute showers or a tank thermostat turned up all show here. A dripping hot water tap or a leaking relief valve keeps the element running for nothing. A heat pump water heater (UEF around 3.0) does the same job with about 110 kWh a month. Run your numbers in the electric water heater calculator.

Big loads that came into the house since last year are easy to miss because they don't feel like appliances:

Load	Typical use	kWh a month	At 18.2¢/kWh
Central AC, 3 tons, SEER2 14	8 h a day	617	$112.05
Pool pump, single-speed 1,600 W	8 h a day	384	$69.73
Electric water heater, family of 4	64 gal a day	357	$64.83
Space heater, 1,500 W	6 h a day	270	$49.03
Refrigerator, 150 W	8 h of compressor a day	36	$6.54
Standby power, 44 W around the clock	24 h a day	32	$5.81

An electric vehicle charged at home is the most common new load; price it in the EV charging cost calculator. A hot tub, a dehumidifier running all summer in a basement, a well pump that short-cycles and an old second refrigerator in a hot garage are the others worth checking. Each has a calculator under cost to run.

If kWh per day is flat and the bill is not, look at the price per kWh on your bill and the one from a year ago. Utilities change rates through rate cases, and many bills also carry fuel or power-cost adjustments that move every month or quarter with wholesale prices. Some utilities have tiered rates, where kWh above a monthly threshold cost more, so a heavy month costs more per kWh than a light one. Others have time-of-use plans where the same kWh costs more in the late afternoon and evening.

Part of every bill doesn't depend on kWh at all: a fixed monthly customer charge, sometimes a separate delivery or meter charge, and taxes. These are why your all-in price per kWh is higher in a light month than in a heavy one. If the bill went up in a month you used little electricity, check whether a fixed charge was raised.

The national average residential rate is 18.2¢/kWh, but it ranges from Nevada (12.7¢/kWh) at the low end to Hawaii (47.2¢/kWh) at the top. Every calculator on this site uses your state's average; type the rate from your own bill into any of them for an exact figure.

Standby power is real but rarely the reason a bill jumped. The standby power calculator starts from measured standby draws for a TV, cable box, game console, computer, microwave, chargers, printer and soundbar: about 44 W together, around the clock. That is about 385 kWh a year, $69.92 at the national rate. Worth trimming, mostly the cable box and console, but it won't explain a bill that rose by $80.

The same goes for lighting: switching the last incandescent bulbs to LED saves money, and the LED savings calculator shows how much, but a jump in your bill is almost always one of the big loads above.

1. Benchmark the house. Add up the kWh on your last 12 bills and divide by your square footage in the kWh per square foot calculator. It compares you with typical homes in your climate zone, so you know whether the problem is the whole house or one month.
2. List the big loads. Put your heating, cooling, water heater and anything new into the electric bill estimator and compare its kWh with your bill. If the estimate is far below the bill, something is running more than you think.
3. Watch the meter. On a mild day, with the heat and AC off, read the meter (or your utility's hourly usage page), then switch off one breaker at a time for a few minutes. The breaker that makes usage drop the most is your answer. A large constant draw with everything off points to a stuck water heater element, a well pump or a heating cable.
4. Fix the biggest one first. If heating is the culprit, compare systems in the heat pump vs furnace calculator and read the heat pump vs gas furnace guide. If it's one cold room, the space heater vs central heat guide shows when zoning actually saves.