Average Electric Bill in South Dakota
Residential · 12-month average, June 2025 – May 2026.
That works out to about $1,652 a year. Among the 50 states and DC, South Dakota has the 34th highest average residential bill.
What makes up the bill
Price × usage = bill, exactly: 14.03¢/kWh × 981 kWh ≈ $138. A state can land high on either factor — South Dakota pays below the national rate but uses much more power than average.
Compared with nearby states
| South Dakota | $138 | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. average | $155 | |
| North Dakota | $130 | |
| Nebraska | $121 | |
| Iowa | $119 | |
| Minnesota | $119 | |
| Wyoming | $114 | |
| Montana | $113 |
South Dakota is $18 a month below (-11.4%) 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
- January 2026
- Lowest month
- $115
- October 2025
- Swing
- $58
- peak minus low
- Latest month
- $127
- May 2026
Actual bills are far from flat: South Dakota peaks in January 2026 and bottoms out in October 2025. The headline figure above is the average across all twelve months.
South Dakota electricity bills in context
South Dakota's average monthly electricity bill is $138, ranking 34th among the 50 states and DC, where 1 is the most expensive. This bill falls 11.4% below the national average of $155. The gap comes from two directions: South Dakota residents pay 14.03¢/kWh against a national rate of 17.84¢/kWh, which pulls the bill down by $17 per month, but they use more electricity, averaging 981 kWh per month against the national 871 kWh, which pushes it back up by $110. On balance, the lower price more than offsets the higher usage.
The bill has risen 4.6% in the past year, climbing from $132 in June 2025 to the current $138. Over the longer view, the shift is steeper: since May 2021, it has grown 11.5%, and since December 2008, it has jumped 64.7% from $84. Within the twelve-month window, seasonal swings are pronounced. January 2026 brought the peak at $173, while October 2025 saw the lowest at $115, a spread of $58 around the annual average.
Bordering states cluster closely around South Dakota's bill. North Dakota sits slightly higher at $130; Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota each stand at $119 to $121; Montana and Wyoming fall below at $113 to $114. South Dakota occupies the middle of this range, neither the most nor least expensive among its neighbours.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through May 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›How much is the average electric bill in South Dakota?
›Is the electric bill in South Dakota higher than the national average?
›Why is not electricity expensive in South Dakota?
›When is the electric bill highest in South Dakota?
›How does South Dakota 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 South Dakota may pay well above or below $138. 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 South Dakota electricity prices by sector.