US EnergyData

Electricity prices: real vs nominal, United States

Average retail electricity price across all sectors. The nominal price is what consumers paid at the time; the real price is adjusted for inflation to 2024 dollars.
Real price (2024 $)
Nominal price
Select state
Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration — Form 861, Electric Power Annual  ·  Inflation adjustment: FRED CPIAUCSL
Note: Nominal electricity price data is adjusted for inflation using the All items Consumer Price Index (for Urban Consumers). Base year: .

What this data measures

The average retail electricity price paid by US consumers, shown in both nominal (current-dollar) and inflation-adjusted (real) terms. Prices cover all sectors combined — residential, commercial, and industrial — for all 50 states, Washington D.C., and the US national average.

Nominal vs. real prices

The nominal price is what consumers actually paid in the prices of the year in question. The real price adjusts for inflation, expressing prices in 2024 dollars, making it possible to compare purchasing power across different years. When real prices fall while nominal prices rise, electricity is becoming cheaper relative to other goods and services.

How this data is constructed

Nominal retail electricity prices are collected annually from electric utilities by the EIA through its Form EIA-861 survey. Average prices are computed by dividing total annual retail revenue by total kilowatt-hours sold. To construct real prices, nominal values are multiplied by the ratio of the CPI in the base year (2024) to the CPI in each historical year.

Source
U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 (Electric Power Annual)
Inflation adjustment
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPIAUCSL), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED
Date range
1990–2024
Unit
US cents per kilowatt-hour (¢/kWh)
Last updated
Fall 2025
Next update
Annual — expected fall 2026