Average Electric Bill in Kentucky
Residential · 12-month average, June 2025 – May 2026.
That works out to about $1,850 a year. Among the 50 states and DC, Kentucky has the 27th highest average residential bill.
What makes up the bill
Price × usage = bill, exactly: 13.78¢/kWh × 1,119 kWh ≈ $154. A state can land high on either factor — Kentucky pays below the national rate but uses much more power than average.
Compared with nearby states
| Kentucky | $154 | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. average | $155 | |
| Virginia | $171 | |
| West Virginia | $165 | |
| Tennessee | $162 | |
| Indiana | $159 | |
| Ohio | $157 | |
| Missouri | $145 | |
| Illinois | $132 |
Kentucky is $1 a month below (-0.8%) 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
- $209
- January 2026
- Lowest month
- $117
- October 2025
- Swing
- $92
- peak minus low
- Latest month
- $128
- May 2026
Actual bills are far from flat: Kentucky peaks in January 2026 and bottoms out in October 2025. The headline figure above is the average across all twelve months.
Kentucky electricity bills in context
The average monthly electricity bill in Kentucky since June 2025 is $154, ranking 27th among the 50 states and DC—closer to the middle than to either extreme. This bill sits nearly $1 below the national average of $155, even though homes here use 248 kWh more per month than the national average of 871 kWh. The reason lies in price: Kentucky's rate of 13.78¢/kWh is 4.06¢/kWh lower than the national average of 17.84¢/kWh, which more than offsets the higher consumption.
Over the past year through May 2026, bills have risen 9.7%, from $141 to $154. The climb has been far steeper over longer stretches. Since May 2021, the average bill has grown 28%, and since December 2008 it has increased 62.9%—from $95 to $154. Seasonally, January 2026 brought the peak at $209 per month, while October 2025 saw the lowest at $117, a swing of $92 around the twelve-month average.
Among neighboring states, Kentucky's bill is the second lowest. Only Illinois at $132 costs less. Missouri sits at $145, while Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia range from $157 to $171, all running higher than Kentucky's charge.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through May 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›How much is the average electric bill in Kentucky?
›Is the electric bill in Kentucky higher than the national average?
›Why is not electricity expensive in Kentucky?
›When is the electric bill highest in Kentucky?
›How does Kentucky 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 Kentucky may pay well above or below $154. 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 Kentucky electricity prices by sector.