How much did home electricity prices rise in 2026?

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Electric Power Monthly, released on October 23, 2026, puts the average residential electricity price for August 2026 at 18.16 cents per kilowatt-hour. A year earlier, in August 2025, it was 17.57 cents. That is an increase of 3.4%. EIA marks the 2026 figures as preliminary estimates; the 2025 figures are final.

Updated November 10, 2026, with EIA’s October release. The earlier version used the September release, which ran through July. EIA has since revised several 2026 months slightly and finalised its 2025 figures: July 2025, for example, is now 17.39 cents rather than the preliminary 17.45.

How did prices move through 2026?

Month (2026)	U.S. average residential price, cents per kWh
January	17.45
February	17.65
March	18.60
April	18.86
May	18.44
June	18.35
July	18.31
August	18.16

The year’s highest monthly average so far was April, 8.1% above January. Prices have eased since, but every month of 2026 so far has been above the same month of 2025. Because prices move from month to month, the fairer comparison is the same month a year apart, which gives the 3.4% rise above. For the first eight months together, EIA’s year-to-date average was 18.19 cents in 2026, against 17.03 cents in 2025.

How different are the states?

The national average hides a wide spread. EIA’s state table for August 2026 and August 2025, for the states we checked:

State	August 2025	August 2026	Change
Massachusetts	30.55	30.48	−0.2%
Minnesota	16.89	17.20	+1.8%
Texas	15.40	15.91	+3.3%
Florida	15.33	14.99	−2.2%
Washington	13.65	14.63	+7.2%

Prices in cents per kWh. In August 2026, a kilowatt-hour cost about 2.08 times as much in Massachusetts as in Washington. Among these five states, the largest increase was again in the cheapest, Washington, while prices in Massachusetts and Florida edged down.

What about natural gas?

EIA’s monthly residential natural gas price rose from $13.96 per thousand cubic feet in January 2026 to $27.05 in August, the latest month in its October 30 release. Summer residential gas prices are always high because fixed delivery costs are spread over very little gas, so this rise says little about heating bills. A fairer comparison is the same month a year apart: August 2025 was $26.26, so August 2026 was 3.0% higher. For a heating comparison, winter prices are the ones that matter, and January remains the most recent winter month.

What does this mean for heat pump costs?

A heat pump’s running cost rises in step with the electricity price, divided by its efficiency. Using the method in our running-cost guide, a heat pump with a seasonal coefficient of performance of 2.2 delivered a million Btu of heat for about $23.27 at January’s national price, and would for about $24.21 at August’s.

Whether a heat pump beats gas depends on both prices in the same winter, and on where you live. Use your own bills: state and utility prices differ from the national average by far more than the year’s change. EIA’s next Electric Power Monthly, with September data, is scheduled for November 24, 2026.