State electricity profile · EIA monthly through May 2026
Alabama Electricity
As of May 2026, residential electricity in Alabama costs 16.77¢ per kWh (+3.8% vs May 2025). EIA publishes these figures monthly and this page follows them. Alabama's 2025 annual residential electricity rate is 16.10¢/kWh, 6.9% below the US average. The rate runs below the national average on a mix that is still only 7% renewable. Commercial, industrial and generation-mix figures follow.
- 16.77¢
- May 2026 rate
- +3.8%
- year over year
- 16.10¢/kWh
- Residential rate
- -6.9%
- vs US average
- 7%
- Renewable
- 2.4M
- Customers
Verify with EIA → · Methodology
16.10¢/kWh residential, 14.52¢/kWh commercial
In the U.S. Energy Information Administration's 2025 annual-frequency retail-sales series, Alabama's residential average revenue per kWh is 16.10¢/kWh, with a commercial average of 14.52¢/kWh and an industrial average of 7.73¢/kWh; a separate EIA generation series for 2025 reports 7% of the state's generation from renewables.
- 6.9% below the US average vs national residential average
- 7% renewable generation
The verdict · 2025
Alabama's residential electricity runs 16.10¢/kWh - 6.9% below the 17.30¢/kWh national average, cheaper than 40% of other states, with 7% of its power from renewables.
This is EIA state average revenue per kWh across 2.4M reported residential customers, a benchmark for comparing states, not the tariff on any single bill. Source: EIA retail-sales API, annual frequency.
Annual rate change
What changed in the 2025 annual EIA period
- Alabama's industrial average rose from 7.25¢/kWh to 7.73¢/kWh between the 2024 and 2025 annual-frequency EIA retail-sales periods, a change of +6.6%.
- Alabama's commercial average rose from 13.64¢/kWh to 14.52¢/kWh between the 2024 and 2025 annual-frequency EIA retail-sales periods, a change of +6.5%.
- Alabama's residential average rose from 15.18¢/kWh to 16.10¢/kWh between the 2024 and 2025 annual-frequency EIA retail-sales periods, a change of +6.1%.
Who generates Alabama's electricity
Alabama has 273 operable generating units on EIA's inventory totalling 31,194 MW of net summer capacity. The largest single plant is Browns Ferry , a nuclear station operated by Tennessee Valley Authority , rated 3,662 MW.
Balancing authorities keep supply and demand matched on the grid; the largest here by capacity are Southern Company Services, Inc. - Trans and Tennessee Valley Authority.
Showing the 16 largest of 79 operable plants in Alabama by net summer capacity.
| Plant | Operator | Technology | County | MW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Browns Ferry | Tennessee Valley Authority | Nuclear | – | 3,662 |
| Barry | Alabama Power Co | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 3,100 |
| James H Miller Jr | Alabama Power Co | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 2,778 |
| H Allen Franklin Combined Cycle | Southern Power Co | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 1,902 |
| E C Gaston | Alabama Power Co | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 1,868 |
| Joseph M Farley | Alabama Power Co | Nuclear | – | 1,791 |
| E B Harris Electric Generating Plant | Southern Power Co | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 1,315 |
| Greene County | Alabama Power Co | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | – | 1,256 |
| Colbert | Tennessee Valley Authority | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | – | 1,026 |
| Central Alabama Generating Station | Alabama Power Co | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 917 |
| Tenaska Lindsay Hill Generating Station | Alabama Power Co | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 848 |
| Decatur Energy Center | Decatur Energy Center LLC | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 800 |
| Morgan Energy Center | Morgan Energy Center LLC | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 782 |
| Hillabee Energy Center | CER Generation LLC | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 753 |
| Calhoun Energy Center | Alabama Power Co | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | – | 704 |
| Wilson Dam | Tennessee Valley Authority | Conventional Hydroelectric | – | 667 |
| Operating company | Plants | Net summer MW |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama Power Co | 27 | 15,390 |
| Tennessee Valley Authority | 5 | 5,876 |
| Southern Power Co | 2 | 3,217 |
| PowerSouth Energy Cooperative | 5 | 1,876 |
| Decatur Energy Center LLC | 1 | 800 |
| Morgan Energy Center LLC | 1 | 782 |
| CER Generation LLC | 1 | 753 |
| Georgia Power Co | 3 | 258 |
| Origis Energy USA, Inc | 3 | 240 |
| Mobile Energy LLC | 1 | 230 |
Operable units only, from EIA's generator inventory as reported for 2026-05. Capacity is net summer rating, which is what a unit can reliably deliver in peak conditions rather than its nameplate figure. Ownership and operatorship can differ; the company shown is the one EIA records as operating the unit.
Market Overview
Residential Revenue
$5.4B
Commercial Revenue
$3.3B
Residential Sales
33.5M MWh
Residential Customers
2.4M
What Alabama's Electricity Data Tells Us
Residential customers in Alabama pay 16.10¢/kWh in 2025, across 2.4M metered households, placing the state 6.9% below the national residential average of 17.30¢/kWh. Commercial rates sit at 14.52¢/kWh while industrial buyers pay 7.73¢/kWh. These sector averages describe recorded revenue per kWh; this dataset alone does not establish why they differ. Annual residential sales total 33.5M MWh on roughly $5.4B in utility revenue. Sales and revenue are reported retail-series measures and should not be treated as a local load forecast.
Industry pays comparatively more here than households do: Alabama ranks 38 of 51 on industrial power against 21 on residential, one of only a handful of states where the industrial ranking sits that far above the residential one. No single fuel reaches half of Alabama's in-state generation. Natural gas leads at 46.7%, with nuclear at 30.7% close enough behind that the mix reads as a balance rather than a clear lead. It is the leading fuel in 26 states. Renewable fuels (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass) account for 6.9% of Alabama's electricity output. These shares describe in-state generation, not a utility-specific customer bill.
Looking back across EIA records, residential prices in Alabama moved from 11.99¢/kWh in 2016 to 16.10¢/kWh in 2025, a 34.3% shift over that window. States charging a similar rate include Indiana, Colorado, Minnesota, a useful peer set for a sanity check. Because gas sets the price of the marginal megawatt-hour on a grid built around it, Alabama's residential rate tracks the fuel market with a lag: a gas-price winter shows up on bills months later, and a cheap gas year works its way through the same way. A state average sitting modestly under the national one is the easiest kind to misread, because the spread between utilities inside Alabama can be wider than the gap to the national figure it is being compared against.
-6.9%
Cheaper vs the US residential average
40%
of states have higher rates — Mid-range cost
7%
Low renewable share — below the 25% US mix
2.4M
residential customers served
Energy Generation Mix (2025)
How Alabama generates its electricity, from the EIA generation series for 2025 (separate from the 2025 retail-sales price figures above). Renewable sources account for 6.9% of generation.
- Natural Gas46.7%
- Nuclear30.7%
- Coal15.6%
- Hydrorenewable6.0%
- Solarrenewable1.0%
Residential Price History
Alabama residential average revenue per kWh moved from 11.99¢/kWh in 2016 to 16.10¢/kWh in 2025 (34.3% over the window).
- Alabama residential avg
- 16.10¢/kWh 34.3% since 2016
- 2016 → 2025
- Alabama residential: 2016, 12¢
- Alabama residential: 2017, 12.6¢
- Alabama residential: 2018, 12.2¢
- Alabama residential: 2019, 12.5¢
- Alabama residential: 2020, 12.6¢
- Alabama residential: 2021, 13¢
- Alabama residential: 2022, 14.3¢
- Alabama residential: 2023, 14.6¢
- Alabama residential: 2024, 15.2¢
- Alabama residential: 2025, 16.1¢
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, retail-sales API · annual frequency. Alabama full trend →
Alabama Average Price by Sector and Year (¢/kWh)
The chart above tracks households only. In 2025, Alabama households paid 16.10¢/kWh while businesses paid 14.52¢/kWh, a 10.9% residential premium, a moderate household-versus-business gap. Every year EIA has published is below, so a single year can be read across all three sectors rather than assembled from three separate EIA queries.
| Year | Residential | Commercial | Industrial |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 16.10¢/kWh | 14.52¢/kWh | 7.73¢/kWh |
| 2024 | 15.18¢/kWh | 13.64¢/kWh | 7.25¢/kWh |
| 2023 | 14.63¢/kWh | 13.16¢/kWh | 7.10¢/kWh |
| 2022 | 14.25¢/kWh | 13.16¢/kWh | 7.72¢/kWh |
| 2021 | 12.96¢/kWh | 11.84¢/kWh | 6.33¢/kWh |
| 2020 | 12.57¢/kWh | 11.55¢/kWh | 5.87¢/kWh |
| 2019 | 12.53¢/kWh | 11.52¢/kWh | 5.95¢/kWh |
| 2018 | 12.18¢/kWh | 11.24¢/kWh | 6.01¢/kWh |
| 2017 | 12.55¢/kWh | 11.60¢/kWh | 6.16¢/kWh |
| 2016 | 11.99¢/kWh | 11.11¢/kWh | 6.04¢/kWh |
Average revenue per kilowatt-hour, U.S. Energy Information Administration annual-frequency retail-sales series. Revenue per kWh is what customers in each sector actually paid on average, not an advertised tariff rate. Years with no EIA figure for a sector show —.
Where Alabama's residential rate sits nationally
2025 average revenue per kWh across every reporting state
16.10¢/kWh 40th affordability percentile More affordable than 40% of 50 other states
all reporting states, equal-width bands
Each bar spans 5¢/kWh. Taller bars contain more states; the dashed marker locates this state. Hover, focus or tap a bar for its exact count and share.
Source U.S. Energy Information Administration, retail-sales API · 2025 annual frequency
How Alabama compares
Average revenue per kWh, EIA retail-sales API. Pick a benchmark above to compare Alabama against the US average or a peer state.
States with Similar Electricity Prices
Other states led by natural gas
These grids also report natural gas as their largest generation share in the latest EIA mix — a different peer set from the price neighbors above.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does electricity cost in Alabama? ▼
Where does Alabama's residential electricity rate rank nationally? ▼
How much of Alabama's electricity is renewable? ▼
Are electricity prices going up in Alabama? ▼
What are commercial and industrial electricity rates in Alabama? ▼
Which energy sources generate the most electricity in Alabama? ▼
Where does RateWatt's Alabama electricity data come from? ▼
Using Alabama's numbers
With renewables still a small share of generation here, the figures above describe a mix that has further to travel than most. Watch what Alabama builds when its existing thermal capacity retires, because that is the decision the next decade of rates is made of.
- Alabama sits 6.9% below the national average, see exactly where it lands among all 50 states. See the rankings
- Check the multi-year trend before you judge the rate, a low price rising fast can cost more over a decade than a steady one. Alabama price trend
- Compare Alabama side by side with the US average and peer states using the tool above, then estimate your own bill from your monthly kWh. Cost calculator
Figures are EIA state averages by sector, computed as revenue divided by sales, so delivery and taxes are inside them but not broken out. Your actual rate depends on your utility, plan, and usage, see our disclaimer.
Read with Alabama: understanding electricity rates
Where Alabama's figures come from
Every price and generation figure on this page is drawn from the EIA series below, and from nothing else.
Utilities serving Alabama
The 45 utilities that reported bundled residential service in Alabama to EIA Form 861 (2024), largest first. Entity prices below are Form 861 averages for that release, not the same survey as the 2025 retail-sales statewide average above, and not a household tariff. What an individual household pays depends on which of these serves its address.
| Utility | Ownership | Customers | Avg ¢/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama Power Co | Investor Owned | 1.3M | 16.77¢ |
| City of Huntsville - (AL) | Municipal | 197.5K | 11.45¢ |
| Baldwin County El Member Corp | Cooperative | 83.0K | 13.87¢ |
| City of Athens - (AL) | Municipal | 51.0K | 12.24¢ |
| Foley Board of Utilities | Municipal | 51.0K | 13.48¢ |
| Central Alabama Electric Coop | Cooperative | 45.0K | 16.64¢ |
| City of Florence - (AL) | Municipal | 41.6K | 11.61¢ |
| Cullman Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 39.8K | 13.26¢ |
| Joe Wheeler Elec Member Corp | Cooperative | 37.0K | 14.49¢ |
| Tallapoosa River Elec Coop Inc | Cooperative | 29.6K | 14.39¢ |
| Sand Mountain Electric Coop | Cooperative | 27.3K | 12.55¢ |
| City of Dothan - (AL) | Municipal | 26.8K | 10.72¢ |
| Covington Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 23.3K | 16.65¢ |
| Decatur Utilities | Municipal | 22.8K | 11.15¢ |
| Wiregrass Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 22.4K | 15.45¢ |
Showing the 15 largest of 45 reporting utilities. The 2 serving 100.0K+ residential customers link to a full profile. Presence in EIA Form 861 is not evidence that a utility is available at a given address or that a customer may choose it.
Related
Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.
Every figure on RateWatt is rendered directly from official U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, no number is typed in by an editor. Statewide prices use the EIA retail-sales annual series (2025). Generation mix uses a separate EIA generation series (2025). Utility rows use Form EIA-861 (2024) and are not averaged into the statewide retail-sales figure. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2025.