Where Americans live can make a striking difference in what they pay to keep the lights on, with typical monthly electric bills in some states more than triple those in others.

The latest figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration put the national average residential electricity price at 17.24 cents per kilowatt-hour, up 6% from a year earlier, based on average residential prices and an assumed monthly household use of 900 kilowatt-hours, a common benchmark for a typical home.

AMERICANS HIT WITH SOARING ELECTRICITY BILLS AS PRICE HIKES OUTPACE INFLATION NATIONWIDE

North Dakota has the lowest average residential rate in the country at 11.02 cents per kilowatt-hour, while Hawaii has the highest at 41.62 cents per kWh. 

But Hawaii’s island geography makes it something of an outlier, leaving California, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York among the clearest mainland examples of high electricity costs. Nebraska, Idaho, Oklahoma and Arkansas also rank among the cheapest states.

GAS PRICES SURGE, PINCHING AMERICANS AND HANDING THE GOP A NEW MIDTERM HEADACHE

Among mainland states, California is one of the most expensive, highlighting how widely electricity costs can differ by location.  (Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Those differences are not spread evenly across the country. Many of the lower-cost states are clustered in the Plains and parts of the South, while some of the highest prices are concentrated in the Northeast and on the West Coast.

For households already strained by inflation, those differences can translate into a meaningful monthly burden, especially in places where heavy air conditioning or heating use pushes consumption higher. 

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Power transmission lines near Austin, Texas, US, on Thursday, June 13, 2024. ( Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The wide gap reflects factors that go beyond politics, including fuel mix, weather, regulation, infrastructure costs and household energy use.

For consumers, however, the bottom line is simple: where they live can have a major impact on one of the few monthly bills they cannot easily avoid.

The Trump administration invoked the Defense Production Act to order an oil company to restart shuttered offshore operations in California, saying the move is necessary to address oil supply disruption risks and reduce reliance on foreign crude.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Friday directed Sable Offshore Corp., an oil and gas company headquartered in Houston, to restore operations at the Santa Ynez Unit and the Santa Ynez Pipeline System off the coast of Santa Barbara, according to a statement from the Department of Energy (DOE).

The order prioritizes restarting oil production and pipeline capacity to move crude through the Las Flores Pipeline System to Pentland Station, a key inland hub for transporting offshore oil to refineries, and into interstate pipelines.

“California once supplied nearly 40 percent of U.S. oil production, but decades of radical state policies targeting reliable energy sources have driven a decline in domestic output while fuel demand remains among the highest in the nation,” the DOE said. “Today, more than 60 percent of the oil refined in California comes from overseas, with a significant share traveling through the Strait of Hormuz—presenting serious national security threats.”

BURGUM CALLS CALIFORNIA A ‘NATIONAL SECURITY RISK’ AS ENERGY CHIEF WARNS BLUE STATES ARE SKEWING COST AVERAGES

Platform B, an offshore oil and gas platform operated by DCOR, LLC, stands in the Dos Cuadras Field off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, on Jan. 15, 2024. (Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The agency said Sable’s facility can produce about 50,000 barrels of oil per day, roughly a 15% increase in California’s in-state oil production, and could replace about 1.5 million barrels of foreign crude each month.

“Today’s order will strengthen America’s oil supply and restore a pipeline system vital to our national security and defense, ensuring that West Coast military installations have the reliable energy critical to military readiness,” Wright said in a statement.

The directive, issued under authorities delegated through the Defense Production Act and related executive orders, also seeks to ensure that oil produced off California’s coast can more efficiently reach domestic refineries.

NEWSOM KNOCKED FOR ‘INSANE’ CALIFORNIA GAS PRICES AFTER BLAMING TRUMP FOR RISING COSTS

Satellite view of oil platforms off Santa Barbara’s coast, including the Carpinteria Offshore Oil Field, Rincon Oil Field and Rincon Island, an artificial drilling site built in 1958, seen in the Santa Barbara Channel on Jan. 20, 2025. (Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2025 via Getty Images / Getty Images)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned the order Friday, calling the Trump administration’s use of the Defense Production Act “reckless and illegal” and pledging to fight the directive.

His office argued that restarting the Sable Offshore pipeline would have little effect on global oil prices, citing estimates that its output would represent roughly 0.05% of total oil production.

HOUSE GOP URGES TRUMP TO CHOKE OFF IRAN ALLY’S OIL PROFITS AS MIDDLE EAST TURMOIL SPIKES US GAS PRICES

Oil platforms stand off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, on Jan. 15, 2024. (Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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The governor also pointed to the pipeline’s history, noting that a 2015 spill near Refugio State Beach released more than 140,000 gallons of crude oil and caused widespread environmental and economic damage along the Santa Barbara coast.

“California will not stand by while the Trump administration attempts to sacrifice our coastal communities, our environment, and our $51 billion coastal economy,” Newsom said in a statement. “The Trump administration and Sable are defying multiple court orders, and we will see them back in court.”

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What does an 18-month study of residents on a housing estate in southern England tell us about living with debt? Laurie Taylor talks to Ryan Davey from Cardiff University about his new book The Personal Life of Debt – Coercion, Subjectivity and Inequality in Britain, which tries to understand how debt affects people emotionally as well as economically.

Laurie is also joined by Sarah Kerr (LSE International Inequalities Institute), whose book, Wealth, Poverty and Enduring Inequality – Let’s Talk Wealtherty, investigates the stubborn persistence of inequality in the UK. Kerr argues that the gap between top and bottom earners has become entrenched and normalised across generations.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez

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