Electricity Price Volatility by State
Electricity prices change over time due to fuel costs, demand, infrastructure, and policy. This section explains how stable or unstable electricity prices are across states—which states have historically more volatile rates and why volatility matters for households and businesses.
What Electricity Price Volatility Means
Volatility measures the degree to which electricity prices fluctuate over time. Higher volatility means prices swing more from month to month or year to year. Lower volatility means prices are more stable and predictable. We use the coefficient of variation (standard deviation divided by mean) of monthly rates over the last 5 years to rank states.
Why Volatility Matters
Volatility affects:
- Households — Unpredictable electricity bills make budgeting harder. Higher volatility can mean surprise spikes in monthly costs.
- Businesses — Energy-intensive businesses face greater cost uncertainty in high-volatility states.
- Infrastructure planning — Utilities and policymakers consider price stability when planning investments and rate structures.
States with Highest 5-Year Volatility
Based on coefficient of variation of monthly rates over the last 5 years. Higher values indicate more volatile electricity prices.
- District Of Columbia — 19.56% volatility
- Maine — 17.82% volatility
- Maryland — 15.08% volatility
- New Hampshire — 15.06% volatility
- Rhode Island — 14.39% volatility
- Connecticut — 14.18% volatility
- California — 13.99% volatility
- Nevada — 13.53% volatility
- Missouri — 13.45% volatility
- Delaware — 13.35% volatility
Explore by State
Electricity price volatility and stability context by state:
Related pages
Inflation, affordability, generation mix, and data.
Related Pages
- Read about generation mix and price volatility — How generation context connects to electricity price stability
- Explore grid capacity and electricity demand — How demand growth and capacity constraints connect to electricity prices
- Electricity inflation — How electricity prices have changed over time
- Electricity cost by state — Average electricity price per kWh and estimated costs
- Electricity cost of living — How electricity affects household budgets
- Electricity affordability — Affordability by state
- Electricity data — Datasets and methodology