Average Electric Bill in Rhode Island
Residential · 12-month average, September 2025 – August 2026.
That works out to about $1,950 a year. Among the 50 states and DC, Rhode Island has the 20th 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: 29.44¢/kWh × 552 kWh ≈ $163. A state can land high on either factor — Rhode Island pays well above the national rate but uses less power than average.
Compared with nearby states
| Rhode Island | $163 | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. average | $158 | |
| Connecticut | $193 | |
| Massachusetts | $184 |
Rhode Island is $4 a month above (+2.6%) 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
- $217
- July 2026
- Lowest month
- $135
- September 2025
- Swing
- $81
- peak minus low
- Latest month
- $176
- August 2026
Actual bills are far from flat: Rhode Island peaks in July 2026 and bottoms out in September 2025. The headline figure above is the average across all twelve months.
Rhode Island electricity bills in context
The average monthly electricity bill in Rhode Island for the twelve months from September 2025 to August 2026 was $163, ranking the state 20th highest among the 50 states and DC. This bill sits $5 above the national average of $158, a difference of 2.6%. Rhode Island's price for electricity runs substantially higher than the national average at 29.44¢/kWh compared to 18.07¢/kWh — a premium of 11.37¢/kWh. This high rate is the driver of the state's above-average bill despite home usage being considerably lower than the national norm: Rhode Island households used an average of 552 kWh per month against the national average of 876 kWh.
Over the past year, Rhode Island's bill declined by 1.6% from $165 in the prior twelve-month period. Over the longer run, the trend has been sharply upward: the bill was $131 in August 2021 and just $103 in December 2008, representing increases of 24.5% and 58% respectively. Seasonal variation is pronounced, with July 2026 hitting a peak of $217 and September 2025 falling to a low of $135, a swing of $82 across the window. Compared with neighbouring states, Rhode Island's bill sits notably lower than Connecticut at $193 and Massachusetts at $184, placing it in the middle ground despite its elevated per-kilowatt-hour rates.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through August 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›How much is the average electric bill in Rhode Island?
›Is the electric bill in Rhode Island higher than the national average?
›Why is electricity expensive in Rhode Island?
›When is the electric bill highest in Rhode Island?
›How does Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island may pay well above or below $163. 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 Rhode Island electricity prices by sector.