Average Electric Bill in Virginia
Residential · 12-month average, July 2025 – June 2026.
That works out to about $2,066 a year. Among the 50 states and DC, Virginia has the 8th 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: 16.29¢/kWh × 1,057 kWh ≈ $172. A state can land high on either factor — Virginia pays below the national rate but uses much more power than average.
Compared with nearby states
| Virginia | $172 | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. average | $156 | |
| Maryland | $207 | |
| West Virginia | $164 | |
| Tennessee | $163 | |
| Kentucky | $155 | |
| District of Columbia | $152 | |
| North Carolina | $151 |
Virginia is $16 a month above (+10.5%) 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
- $240
- January 2026
- Lowest month
- $125
- October 2025
- Swing
- $114
- peak minus low
- Latest month
- $185
- June 2026
Actual bills are far from flat: Virginia peaks in January 2026 and bottoms out in October 2025. The headline figure above is the average across all twelve months.
Virginia electricity bills in context
Virginia's average monthly electricity bill is $171, the eighth-highest among the 50 states and DC since June 2025. The state pays 16.12¢/kWh, which is 1.72¢ lower than the national average, but homes use 192 kWh more per month than the national average of 871 kWh. That higher usage more than offsets the lower rate, pushing the monthly bill $16 above the national figure of $155, or 10.2% higher.
The bill has risen sharply in the past year, climbing 10.5% from $155 in the twelve months ending May 2025. Over the five years since May 2021, it has grown 28.5%, from $133 to $171. The longer view is even steeper: since December 2008, Virginia's bill has climbed 51.9%, from $113. Seasonally, the bill peaks at $240 in January 2026 and falls to $125 in October 2025, a swing of $115 around the twelve-month average.
Among neighbouring states, Virginia sits near the middle. Maryland's average bill is notably higher at $206, while North Carolina's is lower at $150. West Virginia ($165) and Tennessee ($162) fall between them. Kentucky ($154) and the District of Columbia ($152) both undercut Virginia's bill, as does North Carolina.
Written from the EIA figures on this page, covering data through May 2026.
Frequently asked questions
›How much is the average electric bill in Virginia?
›Is the electric bill in Virginia higher than the national average?
›Why is electricity expensive in Virginia?
›When is the electric bill highest in Virginia?
›How does Virginia 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 Virginia may pay well above or below $172. 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 Virginia electricity prices by sector.