Average Electric Bill in Iowa
Residential · 12-month average, June 2025 – May 2026.
That works out to about $1,427 a year. Among the 50 states and DC, Iowa has the 43rd highest average residential bill.
What makes up the bill
Price × usage = bill, exactly: 13.99¢/kWh × 850 kWh ≈ $119. A state can land high on either factor — Iowa sits close to the U.S. average on both.
Compared with nearby states
| Iowa | $119 | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. average | $155 | |
| Missouri | $145 | |
| South Dakota | $138 | |
| Illinois | $132 | |
| Wisconsin | $123 | |
| Nebraska | $121 | |
| Minnesota | $119 |
Iowa is $37 a month below (-23.5%) 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
- $173
- July 2025
- Lowest month
- $90
- November 2025
- Swing
- $83
- peak minus low
- Latest month
- $98
- May 2026
Actual bills are far from flat: Iowa peaks in July 2025 and bottoms out in November 2025. The headline figure above is the average across all twelve months.
Iowa electricity bills in context
The average monthly electricity bill in Iowa is $119, ranking it 43rd among the 50 states and DC — closer to the middle than to either extreme. This sits well below the national average of $155, a gap of $36 per month. Iowa households pay 13.99¢/kWh, compared with 17.84¢/kWh nationally, which explains most of the difference; homes here also use slightly less power, averaging 850 kWh per month against a national 871 kWh.
Over the past year, from June 2025 to May 2026, bills rose 5.3%, climbing from $113 to $119. The longer view shows steeper growth: since May 2021, the average bill has climbed 10.9%, from $107. Over the full span since December 2008, when records begin for billing figures, the increase reaches 41.7%, from $84 to today's $119.
Seasonally, Iowa's electricity costs swing sharply. July 2025 brought the peak at $173, while November 2025 fell to $90, a difference of $83. The annual average of $119 sits between these extremes. Among bordering states, Iowa matches Minnesota at $119, undercutting Nebraska ($121), Wisconsin ($123), Illinois ($132), South Dakota ($138), and Missouri ($145).
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through May 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›How much is the average electric bill in Iowa?
›Is the electric bill in Iowa higher than the national average?
›Why is not electricity expensive in Iowa?
›When is the electric bill highest in Iowa?
›How does Iowa 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 Iowa may pay well above or below $119. 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 Iowa electricity prices by sector.