Average Electric Bill in Illinois
Residential · 12-month average, June 2025 – May 2026.
That works out to about $1,588 a year. Among the 50 states and DC, Illinois has the 35th highest average residential bill.
What makes up the bill
Price × usage = bill, exactly: 18.40¢/kWh × 719 kWh ≈ $132. A state can land high on either factor — Illinois sits close to the U.S. average on both.
Compared with nearby states
| Illinois | $132 | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. average | $155 | |
| Indiana | $159 | |
| Kentucky | $154 | |
| Missouri | $145 | |
| Wisconsin | $123 | |
| Iowa | $119 |
Illinois is $23 a month below (-14.9%) the U.S. average of $155. Neighboring states share fuel mixes, weather, and often a grid operator, which makes them a closer benchmark than the national average.
Trend since 2008
Each point is a trailing 12-month average, which strips out the summer/winter swing and leaves the underlying trend. Bills start in January 2008 because that is when EIA began reporting customer counts.
Seasonal swing
- Highest month
- $184
- July 2025
- Lowest month
- $105
- November 2025
- Swing
- $79
- peak minus low
- Latest month
- $123
- May 2026
Actual bills are far from flat: Illinois peaks in July 2025 and bottoms out in November 2025. The headline figure above is the average across all twelve months.
Illinois electricity bills in context
Illinois electricity bills averaged $132 per month from June 2025 through May 2026, ranking 35th among the 50 states and DC—well below the national average of $155. The state's price of 18.40¢/kWh runs slightly above the national rate of 17.84¢/kWh, but what holds the bill down is usage. Homes in Illinois consume 719 kWh per month, 152 kWh less than the national average of 871 kWh, and that lower consumption pulls the total bill down by $23 per month.
Over the past year, the average bill climbed 15.4%, from $115 to $132. Over the longer run, the increase has been sharper still: the bill has risen 40.7% since May 2021 and 56.4% since December 2008. These gains reflect sustained upward pressure on both rates and the bills households face.
Across the twelve-month window, bills peaked at $184 in July 2025 and fell to a low of $105 in November 2025, a swing of $79. Among neighbouring states, Wisconsin at $123 and Iowa at $119 post lower bills, while Indiana at $159, Kentucky at $154, and Missouri at $145 all exceed Illinois.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through May 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›How much is the average electric bill in Illinois?
›Is the electric bill in Illinois higher than the national average?
›Why is not electricity expensive in Illinois?
›When is the electric bill highest in Illinois?
›How does Illinois compare with neighboring states?
How this is calculated
EIA’s retail-sales dataset reports, for every state and month, total residential revenue and the number of residential customers served. The average monthly bill is simply the first divided by the second — total spending across all households, spread evenly over all accounts.
bill = revenue ÷ customers · averaged over 12 months (June 2025 – May 2026)
Two caveats worth knowing. It is an average, so it blends apartments with large houses — a typical household in Illinois may pay well above or below $132. And it counts what was actually billed for electricity, including fixed service charges, so it is not the same as multiplying your own usage by the advertised rate.
Looking for the rate rather than the bill? See Illinois electricity prices by sector.