Average Electric Bill in Montana
Residential · 12-month average, September 2025 – August 2026.
That works out to about $1,382 a year. Among the 50 states and DC, Montana has the 48th highest average residential bill.
Data current through August 2026 — the latest available from the U.S. EIA, which publishes monthly figures on a roughly two-month delay.
What makes up the bill
Price × usage = bill, exactly: 13.94¢/kWh × 826 kWh ≈ $115. A state can land high on either factor — Montana is below the U.S. average on both.
Compared with nearby states
| Montana | $115 | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. average | $158 | |
| South Dakota | $141 | |
| North Dakota | $133 | |
| Idaho | $116 | |
| Wyoming | $115 |
Montana is $43 a month below (-27.3%) the U.S. average of $158. 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
- $141
- January 2026
- Lowest month
- $95
- October 2025
- Swing
- $47
- peak minus low
- Latest month
- $122
- August 2026
Actual bills are far from flat: Montana peaks in January 2026 and bottoms out in October 2025. The headline figure above is the average across all twelve months.
Montana electricity bills in context
Montana's average residential electricity bill is $115 per month, the 48th most expensive of the 50 states and DC. The bill is substantially lower than the national average of $158, driven by both price and usage: the state's rate of 13.94¢/kWh falls 4.13¢/kWh below the national average of 18.07¢/kWh, and homes use 50 kWh less per month than the national average of 876 kWh. These two factors together account for the $43 difference favoring Montana.
Over the past year, the average bill has risen 6% from $109 in September 2025. Over the longer term, costs have climbed more steeply: since August 2021, the bill has increased 16.4%, and since December 2008, it has risen 49.6%. Seasonal variation is moderate, with the peak arriving in January 2026 at $141 and the lowest point in October 2025 at $95, a difference of $46 across the year.
Among bordering states, Montana's bill matches Wyoming at $115 and runs slightly below Idaho at $116. South Dakota averages $141 per month and North Dakota $133, both notably higher than Montana's.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through August 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›How much is the average electric bill in Montana?
›Is the electric bill in Montana higher than the national average?
›Why is electricity relatively cheap in Montana?
›When is the electric bill highest in Montana?
›How does Montana 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 (September 2025 – August 2026)
Two caveats worth knowing. It is an average, so it blends apartments with large houses — a typical household in Montana may pay well above or below $115. 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 Montana electricity prices by sector.