Business Electricity Cost Decisions
Electricity is a recurring operating cost for many businesses. This section explains how electricity prices can influence business planning and location decisions—using state-level electricity price context as a baseline for understanding cost differences across regions.
Why Electricity Prices Matter for Businesses
Electricity costs can matter more for some businesses than others—especially those with refrigeration, extended hours, equipment loads, warehousing, or computing needs. Higher electricity rates increase operating costs; lower rates reduce them. State-level electricity price context helps illustrate the scale of cost differences across regions.
National Electricity Context
The U.S. national average residential electricity rate is 17.57 ¢/kWh. At 900 kWh monthly usage, that represents a baseline of about $158 per month. Actual commercial rates vary by utility, service class, and demand.
Electricity data — Datasets and methodology
Explore This Section
- Explore business electricity options by state — State-level context for evaluating business electricity options
- Choosing a state based on electricity costs — How state electricity prices can be part of location decision-making
- Electricity costs for small businesses — How electricity costs can affect small business budgeting
Related Pages
- Data center electricity cost — Electricity price context for data centers and AI infrastructure
- Electricity cost comparison — Compare electricity prices between states
- Electricity affordability — How electricity costs vary by state
- Electricity data — Datasets and methodology
- Datasets — Download electricity price data