State electricity profile · EIA monthly through May 2026
Rhode Island Electricity
As of May 2026, residential electricity in Rhode Island costs 29.46¢ per kWh (+1.6% vs May 2025). EIA publishes these figures monthly and this page follows them. Rhode Island's 2025 annual residential electricity rate is 29.46¢/kWh, 70.3% above the US average. Both figures point the same way: an above-average rate and only 13% of generation from renewables. The fuel-by-fuel and sector detail is below.
- 29.46¢
- May 2026 rate
- +1.6%
- year over year
- 29.46¢/kWh
- Residential rate
- +70.3%
- vs US average
- 13%
- Renewable
- 467.3K
- Customers
Verify with EIA → · Methodology
29.46¢/kWh residential, 23.46¢/kWh commercial
In the U.S. Energy Information Administration's 2025 annual-frequency retail-sales series, Rhode Island's residential average revenue per kWh is 29.46¢/kWh, with a commercial average of 23.46¢/kWh and an industrial average of 21.74¢/kWh; a separate EIA generation series for 2025 reports 13% of the state's generation from renewables.
- 70.3% above the US average vs national residential average
- 13% renewable generation
The verdict · 2025
Rhode Island's residential electricity runs 29.46¢/kWh - 70.3% above the 17.30¢/kWh national average, pricier than 94% of other states, with 13% of its power from renewables.
This is EIA state average revenue per kWh across 467.3K 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
- Rhode Island's commercial average rose from 21.09¢/kWh to 23.46¢/kWh between the 2024 and 2025 annual-frequency EIA retail-sales periods, a change of +11.2%.
- Rhode Island's industrial average rose from 19.70¢/kWh to 21.74¢/kWh between the 2024 and 2025 annual-frequency EIA retail-sales periods, a change of +10.4%.
- Rhode Island's residential average rose from 28.65¢/kWh to 29.46¢/kWh between the 2024 and 2025 annual-frequency EIA retail-sales periods, a change of +2.8%.
Where Rhode Island's residential rate sits nationally
2025 average revenue per kWh across every reporting state
29.46¢/kWh 6th affordability percentile More affordable than 6% 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 Rhode Island compares
Average revenue per kWh, EIA retail-sales API. Pick a benchmark above to compare Rhode Island against the US average or a peer state.
What Rhode Island's Electricity Data Tells Us
Residential customers in Rhode Island pay 29.46¢/kWh in 2025, across 467.3K metered households, placing the state 70.3% above the national residential average of 17.30¢/kWh. Commercial rates sit at 23.46¢/kWh while industrial buyers pay 21.74¢/kWh. These sector averages describe recorded revenue per kWh; this dataset alone does not establish why they differ. Annual residential sales total 3.1M MWh on roughly $923.3M in utility revenue. Sales and revenue are reported retail-series measures and should not be treated as a local load forecast.
Rhode Island prices its sectors in step: 4 of 51 residential against 2 industrial. A state this consistent is the exception rather than the rule, and it means the residential figure above is a fair proxy for how the whole grid is priced. Natural gas does not merely lead Rhode Island's grid, it accounts for 86.4% of everything generated in-state, leaving every other fuel a minor share (the nearest, solar, reaches 11.0%). It is the leading fuel in 26 states. Renewable fuels (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass) account for 12.9% of Rhode Island's electricity output. These shares describe in-state generation, not a utility-specific customer bill.
Looking back across EIA records, residential prices in Rhode Island moved from 18.62¢/kWh in 2016 to 29.46¢/kWh in 2025, a 58.2% shift over that window. States charging a similar rate include Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, a useful peer set for a sanity check. Because gas sets the price of the marginal megawatt-hour on a grid built around it, Rhode Island'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. At this level it matters what the figure is made of: it is total revenue divided by total kilowatt-hours, so delivery, taxes and fees are inside it but never broken out. In a state as dear as Rhode Island that hides which part of the bill a household could actually act on.
+70.3%
Much more expensive vs the US residential average
6%
of states have higher rates — Among the costliest
13%
Low renewable share — below the 25% US mix
467.3K
residential customers served
Market Overview
Residential Revenue
$923.3M
Commercial Revenue
$848.7M
Residential Sales
3.1M MWh
Residential Customers
467.3K
Residential Price History
Rhode Island residential average revenue per kWh moved from 18.62¢/kWh in 2016 to 29.46¢/kWh in 2025 (58.2% over the window).
- Rhode Island residential avg
- 29.46¢/kWh 58.2% since 2016
- 2016 → 2025
- Rhode Island residential: 2016, 18.6¢
- Rhode Island residential: 2017, 18.3¢
- Rhode Island residential: 2018, 20.6¢
- Rhode Island residential: 2019, 21.7¢
- Rhode Island residential: 2020, 22¢
- Rhode Island residential: 2021, 22.3¢
- Rhode Island residential: 2022, 23.2¢
- Rhode Island residential: 2023, 27¢
- Rhode Island residential: 2024, 28.7¢
- Rhode Island residential: 2025, 29.5¢
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, retail-sales API · annual frequency. Rhode Island full trend →
Rhode Island Average Price by Sector and Year (¢/kWh)
The chart above tracks households only. In 2025, Rhode Island households paid 29.46¢/kWh while businesses paid 23.46¢/kWh, a 25.6% residential premium, a wider household-versus-business gap than most states. 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 | 29.46¢/kWh | 23.46¢/kWh | 21.74¢/kWh |
| 2024 | 28.65¢/kWh | 21.09¢/kWh | 19.70¢/kWh |
| 2023 | 27.02¢/kWh | 17.68¢/kWh | 18.98¢/kWh |
| 2022 | 23.21¢/kWh | 16.23¢/kWh | 17.96¢/kWh |
| 2021 | 22.30¢/kWh | 15.51¢/kWh | 16.06¢/kWh |
| 2020 | 22.01¢/kWh | 15.94¢/kWh | 15.76¢/kWh |
| 2019 | 21.73¢/kWh | 16.38¢/kWh | 15.59¢/kWh |
| 2018 | 20.55¢/kWh | 16.58¢/kWh | 15.39¢/kWh |
| 2017 | 18.32¢/kWh | 15.20¢/kWh | 14.57¢/kWh |
| 2016 | 18.62¢/kWh | 14.88¢/kWh | 13.48¢/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 —.
Who generates Rhode Island's electricity
Rhode Island has 151 operable generating units on EIA's inventory totalling 2,404 MW of net summer capacity. The largest single plant is Rhode Island State Energy Center , a natural gas fired combined cycle station operated by RISEC Operating Services , rated 554 MW.
The grid here is run by ISO New England Inc, the balancing authority that keeps supply and demand matched across the state.
Showing the 16 largest of 109 operable plants in Rhode Island by net summer capacity.
| Plant | Operator | Technology | County | MW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island State Energy Center | RISEC Operating Services | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 554 |
| Manchester Street | Manchester Street, LLC. | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 471 |
| Tiverton Power Plant | Tiverton Power LLC | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 273 |
| Ocean State Power II | Ocean State Power II | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 268 |
| Ocean State Power | Ocean State Power Co | Natural Gas Fired Combined Cycle | – | 232 |
| Robin Hollow Solar | Robin Hollow Solar, LLC | Solar Photovoltaic | – | 41 |
| Dry Bridge Solar (Brown University) | MN8 Energy LLC | Solar Photovoltaic | – | 40 |
| Johnston LFG Turbine Plant | Rhode Island LFG Genco | Landfill Gas | – | 31 |
| Block Island Wind Farm | Deepwater Wind Block Island LLC | Offshore Wind Turbine | – | 29 |
| University Solar, LLC | AES Distributed Energy | Solar Photovoltaic | – | 24 |
| GD West Greenwich Nooseneck I, LLC | GD West Greenwich Nooseneck I, LLC | Solar Photovoltaic | – | 20 |
| Toray Plastic America's CHP Plant | Toray Plastics America | Natural Gas Internal Combustion Engine | – | 19 |
| Gold Meadow Farms | Captona Lippitt Ave Cranston LLC | Solar Photovoltaic | – | 16 |
| Alton Road Solar | Revity Energy LLC | Solar Photovoltaic | – | 14 |
| TPE King Solar Holdings1, LLC (CSG) | Nautilus Solar Solutions | Solar Photovoltaic | – | 13 |
| Rhode Island Solar Renewable Energy IV, | Rhode Island Solar Renewable Energy IV, LLC | Solar Photovoltaic | – | 12 |
| Operating company | Plants | Net summer MW |
|---|---|---|
| RISEC Operating Services | 1 | 554 |
| Manchester Street, LLC. | 1 | 471 |
| Tiverton Power LLC | 1 | 273 |
| Ocean State Power II | 1 | 268 |
| Ocean State Power Co | 1 | 232 |
| Robin Hollow Solar, LLC | 1 | 41 |
| MN8 Energy LLC | 1 | 40 |
| Rhode Island LFG Genco | 2 | 37 |
| AES Distributed Energy | 4 | 36 |
| Nautilus Solar Solutions | 7 | 35 |
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.
Energy Generation Mix (2025)
How Rhode Island generates its electricity, from the EIA generation series for 2025 (separate from the 2025 retail-sales price figures above). Renewable sources account for 12.9% of generation.
- Natural Gas86.4%
- Solarrenewable11.0%
- Windrenewable1.9%
- Petroleum0.7%
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does electricity cost in Rhode Island? ▼
Where does Rhode Island's residential electricity rate rank nationally? ▼
How much of Rhode Island's electricity is renewable? ▼
Are electricity prices going up in Rhode Island? ▼
What are commercial and industrial electricity rates in Rhode Island? ▼
Which energy sources generate the most electricity in Rhode Island? ▼
Where does RateWatt's Rhode Island electricity data come from? ▼
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.
Using Rhode Island'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 Rhode Island builds when its existing thermal capacity retires, because that is the decision the next decade of rates is made of.
- Rhode Island sits 70.3% above 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. Rhode Island price trend
- Compare Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island: why energy prices vary
Where Rhode Island's figures come from
Every price and generation figure on this page is drawn from the EIA series below, and from nothing else.
- 📊 EIA State Energy Profile, Rhode Island State energy database
- ⚡ EIA Electric Power Monthly The monthly and annual price series behind every rate here
- 🌿 EIA generation by source The in-state generation shares quoted above
- 📖 Our methodology Source-to-figure lineage, and further federal energy references
Utilities serving Rhode Island
The 8 utilities that reported bundled residential service in Rhode Island 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Narragansett Electric Co | Investor Owned | 332.5K | 28.26¢ |
| Pascoag Utility District | Municipal | 4.4K | 16.52¢ |
| Sunrun Inc. | Behind the Meter | 3.3K | 26.92¢ |
| Sunnova | Behind the Meter | 2.2K | 22.75¢ |
| Block Island Utility District | Political Subdivision | 1.6K | 39.66¢ |
| Tesla Inc. | Behind the Meter | 95 | 22.31¢ |
| EverBright, LLC | Behind the Meter | 81 | 20.80¢ |
| Palmetto Solar, LLC | Behind the Meter | 2 | 56.43¢ |
The 1 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.