Average Electric Bill in Tennessee
Residential · 12-month average, July 2025 – June 2026.
That works out to about $1,952 a year. Among the 50 states and DC, Tennessee has the 17th highest average residential bill.
Data current through June 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: 13.51¢/kWh × 1,204 kWh ≈ $163. A state can land high on either factor — Tennessee pays below the national rate but uses much more power than average.
Compared with nearby states
| Tennessee | $163 | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. average | $156 | |
| Alabama | $185 | |
| Virginia | $172 | |
| Mississippi | $170 | |
| Georgia | $161 | |
| Kentucky | $155 | |
| North Carolina | $151 | |
| Missouri | $145 | |
| Arkansas | $139 |
Tennessee is $7 a month above (+4.3%) the U.S. average of $156. 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
- $207
- July 2025
- Lowest month
- $120
- November 2025
- Swing
- $87
- peak minus low
- Latest month
- $168
- June 2026
Actual bills are far from flat: Tennessee peaks in July 2025 and bottoms out in November 2025. The headline figure above is the average across all twelve months.
Tennessee electricity bills in context
The average monthly residential electricity bill in Tennessee from June 2025 through May 2026 was $162, placing the state 17th among the 50 states and DC when ranked from the most expensive. This bill exceeded the national average of $155 by $7, or 4%. The difference stems from two opposing forces: Tennessee's price of 13.48¢/kWh ran 4.36¢/kWh below the national rate of 17.84¢/kWh, pulling the bill down, but homes used 1,199 kWh per month against a national average of 871 kWh, pulling it up by 328 kWh per month.
Over the past year, the bill climbed 6.7%, from $152 in the prior twelve months. The longer view shows steeper gains: since May 2021, the bill rose 25.5% from $129, and since December 2008 it has climbed 39.4% from $116. Seasonally, July 2025 brought the peak at $207, while November 2025 hit the low of $120, a swing of $87 around the twelve-month average.
Among Tennessee's eight bordering states, only Kentucky at $154 and Missouri at $145 kept their bills below Tennessee's. Georgia came closest at $161, while Arkansas stood farthest below at $138. At the other end, Alabama's residents paid the most of any neighbour, with an average bill of $185.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through May 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›How much is the average electric bill in Tennessee?
›Is the electric bill in Tennessee higher than the national average?
›Why is electricity expensive in Tennessee?
›When is the electric bill highest in Tennessee?
›How does Tennessee 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 (July 2025 – June 2026)
Two caveats worth knowing. It is an average, so it blends apartments with large houses — a typical household in Tennessee 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 Tennessee electricity prices by sector.