Rhode Island residential electricity rates

Analyst note

The Rhode Island residential price sat above the U.S. average in 10 of 10 years; the gap was +6.64 ¢ in 2015 and +12.17 ¢ in 2024. In the 2024 ranking Rhode Island sits between Connecticut (28.75 ¢) one place above and Alaska (24.82 ¢) one place below; the top of the list is 14.21 ¢ away and the bottom 17.14 ¢. Rhode Island was 5th in 2015 with 19.29 ¢ and is 5th now; no move in the table. Rhode Island residential prices rose in 7 of 9 years. The largest rise was +16.4% in 2023, and the largest fall -3.5% in 2016. The Rhode Island price peaked at 28.65 ¢ in 2024 and bottomed at 18.32 ¢ in 2017; 2024 is the peak and +56.4% from the low. Compounded, that is +4.49% a year in Rhode Island, +1.51 points against the U.S. Rhode Island buys 0.21% of all U.S. residential electricity with 0.32% of the accounts, so the average Rhode Island account uses 0.66 times the national average.

A top-ten price: 28.65 ¢/kWh for Rhode Island residential accounts, rank 5 of 51, +73.8% against the U.S. Rhode Island: +48.5% over nine years, or +4.5% a year, beating the national +30.3% by 18.2 points; 2023 was the biggest single move (+16.4%) and 2024 the high.

Last year's change in Rhode Island was +6.0% and still rising. Against the commercial price of 21.09 ¢ the gap is 7.56 ¢. Residential sales are 42.0% of Rhode Island electricity sold, and an average Rhode Island account used 567 kWh a month, an implied bill near $162.

Counting revenue instead of kWh, Rhode Island residential accounts bring in 49.9% of Rhode Island sector revenue on 42.1% of the kWh, a premium of 7.8 points that comes from the price level: 28.65 ¢ here against 21.09 ¢ for commercial and 19.70 ¢ for industrial accounts. The average Rhode Island residential account uses 567 kWh a month, 48 of 51 among states on that measure; a commercial account uses 8.61 times as much and a industrial account 54.80 times. Residential accounts are 87.68% of the 521,661 accounts in Rhode Island.