Maine residential electricity rates

Analyst note

The Maine residential price sat above the U.S. average in 10 of 10 years; the gap was +2.96 ¢ in 2015 and +7.81 ¢ in 2024. In the 2024 ranking Maine sits between New York (24.43 ¢) one place above and New Hampshire (23.40 ¢) one place below; the top of the list is 18.57 ¢ away and the bottom 12.78 ¢. Maine was 11th in 2015 with 15.61 ¢ and is 8th now; a rise in the table. Maine residential prices rose in 7 of 9 years. The largest rise was +31.8% in 2022, and the largest fall -11.4% in 2024. The Maine price peaked at 27.42 ¢ in 2023 and bottomed at 15.61 ¢ in 2015; 2024 is 11.4% below the peak and +55.6% from the low. Compounded, that is +5.04% a year in Maine, +2.05 points against the U.S. Maine buys 0.33% of all U.S. residential electricity with 0.52% of the accounts, so the average Maine account uses 0.64 times the national average.

A top-ten price: 24.29 ¢/kWh for Maine residential accounts, rank 8 of 51, +47.4% against the U.S. Maine: +55.6% over nine years, or +5.0% a year, beating the national +30.3% by 25.3 points; 2022 was the biggest single move (+31.8%) and 2023 the high.

Last year's change in Maine was -11.4% and falling. Against the commercial price of 18.22 ¢ the gap is 6.07 ¢. Residential sales are 43.2% of Maine electricity sold, and an average Maine account used 550 kWh a month, an implied bill near $134.

Counting revenue instead of kWh, Maine residential accounts bring in 53.4% of Maine sector revenue on 43.2% of the kWh, a premium of 10.2 points that comes from the price level: 24.29 ¢ here against 18.22 ¢ for commercial and 12.46 ¢ for industrial accounts. The average Maine residential account uses 550 kWh a month, 49 of 51 among states on that measure; a commercial account uses 5.62 times as much and a industrial account 182.75 times. Residential accounts are 86.79% of the 855,558 accounts in Maine.