Average Electric Bill in Rhode Island
Residential · 12-month average, June 2025 – May 2026.
That works out to about $1,976 a year. Among the 50 states and DC, Rhode Island has the 14th highest average residential bill.
What makes up the bill
Price × usage = bill, exactly: 28.81¢/kWh × 572 kWh ≈ $165. 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 | $165 | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. average | $155 | |
| Connecticut | $203 | |
| Massachusetts | $183 |
Rhode Island is $9 a month above (+5.9%) 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
- $213
- July 2025
- Lowest month
- $135
- September 2025
- Swing
- $78
- peak minus low
- Latest month
- $148
- May 2026
Actual bills are far from flat: Rhode Island peaks in July 2025 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 is $165, ranking 14th among the 50 states and DC. This runs $10 above the national average of $155 per month. Residents here pay 28.81¢/kWh, substantially more than the national rate of 17.84¢/kWh, but this higher price is partly offset by lower household consumption: Rhode Island homes use 572 kWh per month on average, compared with 871 kWh nationally. The rate premium alone would push the bill well above the national average; the usage difference brings it back down. Over the past year, the bill fell 0.8%, from $166 in the prior twelve months.
Looking further back, the cost of electricity in Rhode Island has risen sharply. Since May 2021, the average monthly bill has climbed 23.3%, from $134. Over the longer span since December 2008, it has grown 60.1%, from $103. The seasonal swing is marked: bills peak at $213 in July 2025 and drop to $135 in September 2025, a difference of $78 around the year-round average.
Across the border, both neighbouring states exceed Rhode Island's bill. Connecticut averages $203 per month and Massachusetts $183, making Rhode Island the least expensive of the three.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through May 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 (June 2025 – May 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 $165. 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.