State electricity profile · EIA monthly through May 2026
Kentucky Electricity
As of May 2026, residential electricity in Kentucky costs 14.98¢ per kWh (+8.2% vs May 2025). EIA publishes these figures monthly and this page follows them. Kentucky's 2025 annual residential electricity rate is 13.24¢/kWh, 23.5% below the US average. The rate runs below the national average on a mix that is still only 8% renewable. Commercial, industrial and generation-mix figures follow.
- 14.98¢
- May 2026 rate
- +8.2%
- year over year
- 13.24¢/kWh
- Residential rate
- -23.5%
- vs US average
- 8%
- Renewable
- 2.0M
- Customers
Verify with EIA → · Methodology
13.24¢/kWh residential, 11.88¢/kWh commercial
In the U.S. Energy Information Administration's 2025 annual-frequency retail-sales series, Kentucky's residential average revenue per kWh is 13.24¢/kWh, with a commercial average of 11.88¢/kWh and an industrial average of 6.96¢/kWh; a separate EIA generation series for 2025 reports 8% of the state's generation from renewables.
- 23.5% below the US average vs national residential average
- 8% renewable generation
The verdict · 2025
Kentucky's residential electricity runs 13.24¢/kWh - 23.5% below the 17.30¢/kWh national average, cheaper than 78% of other states, with 8% of its power from renewables.
This is EIA state average revenue per kWh across 2.0M 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
- Kentucky's industrial average rose from 6.50¢/kWh to 6.96¢/kWh between the 2024 and 2025 annual-frequency EIA retail-sales periods, a change of +7.1%.
- Kentucky's residential average rose from 12.79¢/kWh to 13.24¢/kWh between the 2024 and 2025 annual-frequency EIA retail-sales periods, a change of +3.5%.
- Kentucky's commercial average rose from 11.50¢/kWh to 11.88¢/kWh between the 2024 and 2025 annual-frequency EIA retail-sales periods, a change of +3.3%.
Who generates Kentucky's electricity
Kentucky has 174 operable generating units on EIA's inventory totalling 18,778 MW of net summer capacity. The largest single plant is Trimble County , a conventional steam coal station operated by Louisville Gas & Electric Co , rated 2,179 MW.
Balancing authorities keep supply and demand matched on the grid; the largest here by capacity are Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company, PJM Interconnection, LLC and Tennessee Valley Authority.
Showing the 16 largest of 63 operable plants in Kentucky by net summer capacity.
| Plant | Operator | Technology | County | MW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trimble County | Louisville Gas & Electric Co | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 2,179 |
| Ghent | Kentucky Utilities Co | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 1,919 |
| Paradise | Tennessee Valley Authority | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 1,763 |
| H L Spurlock | East Kentucky Power Coop, Inc | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 1,346 |
| E W Brown | Kentucky Utilities Co | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 1,328 |
| Shawnee | Tennessee Valley Authority | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 1,206 |
| Mill Creek (KY) | Louisville Gas & Electric Co | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 1,165 |
| Riverside Generating LLC | Riverside Generating Co LLC | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | – | 825 |
| J K Smith | East Kentucky Power Coop, Inc | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | – | 756 |
| Cane Run | Louisville Gas & Electric Co | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 691 |
| East Bend | Duke Energy Kentucky Inc | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 600 |
| Bluegrass Generating Station | East Kentucky Power Coop, Inc | Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine | – | 495 |
| R D Green | Big Rivers Electric Corp | Natural Gas Steam Turbine | – | 454 |
| D B Wilson | Big Rivers Electric Corp | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 417 |
| Cooper | East Kentucky Power Coop, Inc | Conventional Steam Coal | – | 341 |
| Wolf Creek | USCE-Nashville District | Conventional Hydroelectric | – | 300 |
| Operating company | Plants | Net summer MW |
|---|---|---|
| Louisville Gas & Electric Co | 5 | 4,306 |
| Tennessee Valley Authority | 4 | 3,410 |
| Kentucky Utilities Co | 5 | 3,304 |
| East Kentucky Power Coop, Inc | 10 | 2,960 |
| Big Rivers Electric Corp | 3 | 929 |
| Riverside Generating Co LLC | 1 | 825 |
| Duke Energy Kentucky Inc | 5 | 609 |
| USCE-Nashville District | 3 | 509 |
| Kentucky Power Co | 1 | 260 |
| Sebree Solar, LLC | 1 | 250 |
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
$3.6B
Commercial Revenue
$2.4B
Residential Sales
27.2M MWh
Residential Customers
2.0M
What Kentucky's Electricity Data Tells Us
Residential customers in Kentucky pay 13.24¢/kWh in 2025, across 2.0M metered households, placing the state 23.5% below the national residential average of 17.30¢/kWh. Commercial rates sit at 11.88¢/kWh while industrial buyers pay 6.96¢/kWh. These sector averages describe recorded revenue per kWh; this dataset alone does not establish why they differ. Annual residential sales total 27.2M MWh on roughly $3.6B in utility revenue. Sales and revenue are reported retail-series measures and should not be treated as a local load forecast.
Kentucky's industrial rate ranks 44 of 51 while its residential rate ranks 40, so the gap between what a factory and a household pay is narrower here than in most states. Coal carries the majority of Kentucky's in-state generation at 66.2%, though not the whole grid: natural gas supplies 26.0% and hydro a further 5.3%. It is the leading fuel in 9 states. Renewable fuels (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass) account for 7.7% of Kentucky's electricity output. These shares describe in-state generation, not a utility-specific customer bill.
Looking back across EIA records, residential prices in Kentucky moved from 10.49¢/kWh in 2016 to 13.24¢/kWh in 2025, a 26.2% shift over that window. States charging a similar rate include Tennessee, Nevada, Oklahoma, a useful peer set for a sanity check. A coal-led grid prices differently from a fuel-market-led one. Kentucky's generators buy under multi-year contracts and recover plant capital through the rate base, so the rate above tends to move in regulated steps rather than with any commodity price, and the live question is what retiring units get replaced with. Read the number as a floor rather than a promise. A statewide average this far under the national figure is usually held down by a few large low-cost generators, and a household on the wrong side of a service-territory boundary in Kentucky can pay well above it.
-23.5%
Much cheaper vs the US residential average
78%
of states have higher rates — Below-average cost
8%
Low renewable share — below the 25% US mix
2.0M
residential customers served
Energy Generation Mix (2025)
How Kentucky generates its electricity, from the EIA generation series for 2025 (separate from the 2025 retail-sales price figures above). Renewable sources account for 7.7% of generation.
- Coal66.2%
- Natural Gas26.0%
- Hydrorenewable5.3%
- Solarrenewable2.4%
- Petroleum0.1%
Residential Price History
Kentucky residential average revenue per kWh moved from 10.49¢/kWh in 2016 to 13.24¢/kWh in 2025 (26.2% over the window).
- Kentucky residential avg
- 13.24¢/kWh 26.2% since 2016
- 2016 → 2025
- Kentucky residential: 2016, 10.5¢
- Kentucky residential: 2017, 10.9¢
- Kentucky residential: 2018, 10.6¢
- Kentucky residential: 2019, 10.8¢
- Kentucky residential: 2020, 10.9¢
- Kentucky residential: 2021, 11.5¢
- Kentucky residential: 2022, 12.9¢
- Kentucky residential: 2023, 12.7¢
- Kentucky residential: 2024, 12.8¢
- Kentucky residential: 2025, 13.2¢
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, retail-sales API · annual frequency. Kentucky full trend →
Kentucky Average Price by Sector and Year (¢/kWh)
The chart above tracks households only. In 2025, Kentucky households paid 13.24¢/kWh while businesses paid 11.88¢/kWh, an 11.4% 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 | 13.24¢/kWh | 11.88¢/kWh | 6.96¢/kWh |
| 2024 | 12.79¢/kWh | 11.50¢/kWh | 6.50¢/kWh |
| 2023 | 12.65¢/kWh | 11.38¢/kWh | 6.55¢/kWh |
| 2022 | 12.91¢/kWh | 11.78¢/kWh | 7.41¢/kWh |
| 2021 | 11.50¢/kWh | 10.75¢/kWh | 5.95¢/kWh |
| 2020 | 10.87¢/kWh | 10.34¢/kWh | 5.31¢/kWh |
| 2019 | 10.80¢/kWh | 10.15¢/kWh | 5.57¢/kWh |
| 2018 | 10.60¢/kWh | 9.74¢/kWh | 5.68¢/kWh |
| 2017 | 10.85¢/kWh | 9.85¢/kWh | 5.72¢/kWh |
| 2016 | 10.49¢/kWh | 9.57¢/kWh | 5.67¢/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 Kentucky's residential rate sits nationally
2025 average revenue per kWh across every reporting state
13.24¢/kWh Top 24% most affordable More affordable than 78% 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 Kentucky compares
Average revenue per kWh, EIA retail-sales API. Pick a benchmark above to compare Kentucky against the US average or a peer state.
States with Similar Electricity Prices
Other states led by coal
These grids also report coal 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 Kentucky? ▼
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Are electricity prices going up in Kentucky? ▼
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Where does RateWatt's Kentucky electricity data come from? ▼
Using Kentucky'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 Kentucky builds when its existing thermal capacity retires, because that is the decision the next decade of rates is made of.
- Kentucky sits 23.5% 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. Kentucky price trend
- Compare Kentucky 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 Kentucky: cheapest states for electricity
Where Kentucky'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 Kentucky
The 45 utilities that reported bundled residential service in Kentucky 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky Utilities Co | Investor Owned | 450.7K | 11.85¢ |
| Louisville Gas & Electric Co | Investor Owned | 384.9K | 12.28¢ |
| Duke Energy Kentucky | Investor Owned | 139.4K | 13.44¢ |
| Kentucky Power Co | Investor Owned | 130.9K | 15.07¢ |
| South Kentucky Rural E C C | Cooperative | 64.9K | 12.92¢ |
| Owen Electric Coop Inc | Cooperative | 64.0K | 12.55¢ |
| Warren Rural Elec Coop Corp | Cooperative | 60.7K | 11.98¢ |
| Blue Grass Energy Coop Corp | Cooperative | 60.6K | 12.32¢ |
| Salt River Electric Coop Corp | Cooperative | 53.5K | 10.88¢ |
| Jackson Energy Coop Corp - (KY) | Cooperative | 49.4K | 13.66¢ |
| Kenergy Corp | Cooperative | 47.3K | 15.15¢ |
| Pennyrile Rural Electric Coop | Cooperative | 40.6K | 13.16¢ |
| Nolin Rural Electric Coop Corp | Cooperative | 35.9K | 13.08¢ |
| West Kentucky Rural E C C | Cooperative | 32.1K | 13.46¢ |
| Meade County Rural E C C | Cooperative | 29.2K | 14.27¢ |
Showing the 15 largest of 45 reporting utilities. The 4 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.