2025 Residential
40.59¢/kWh
+134.6% vs US avg
Hawaii residential electricity costs 40.59¢/kWh in 2025
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration retail-sales series (2025 annual frequency), residential electricity in Hawaii costs 40.59¢/kWh, 134.6% above the national average. Since 2016, the rate has changed +47.8%.
Where Hawaii sits: according to EIA's annual retail-sales series, its residential rate changed +47.8% between 2016 and 2025, the 7th steepest of 51 jurisdictions (the 50 states and the District of Columbia), a steeper move than 88% of the other 50. Ranked on the same 2016 to 2025 window for every state; see the methodology.
Price Trends, Hawaii vs National Average
Reading the Hawaii Price Trend
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's retail-sales series, RateWatt currently holds 2,040 annual state-sector records spanning 2016 through 2025. These are statewide annual averages, not individual utility quotes. See the methodology for source scope and refresh cadence.
Hawaii residential electricity moved from 27.47¢/kWh in 2016 to 40.59¢/kWh in 2025, a cumulative change of +47.8% over 10 reporting years. The more recent five-year window changed +34.0% since 2020; comparing the two windows describes whether the pace changed, but does not establish why. Against the national residential benchmark of 17.30¢/kWh, Hawaii now sits 134.6% above the U.S. average for 2025.
Commercial customers in Hawaii paid 36.37¢/kWh in 2025, while industrial customers paid 31.46¢/kWh. Sector differences can reflect customer mix, consumption volume, tariff design, and cost allocation; this statewide series does not identify which factor drives a state's gap. Here the residential-to-industrial multiplier is about 1.3x, one descriptive benchmark for comparison with peer states.
EIA reports 7 generation sources for Hawaii; ranked by share of generation they run petroleum, solar, wind, other, geothermal. Of the 11 sources EIA reports somewhere in the country, Hawaii records no generation from coal, natural gas, nuclear or pumped storage. That is an absence in the published series, not a statement that no such capacity exists. This price series and that generation series are published separately and are not joined here, so nothing on this page attributes a price movement to a fuel mix. Adjacent entries in the alphabetical state browser are Georgia and Idaho; their pages carry the same series on the same basis. EIA publishes the annual series once per year and revises prior years without renumbering them, so a figure here can change when a later release restates it.
The annual average is close to what most months look like
Hawaii is one of 20 states, of the 51 with a full monthly record, whose residential rate moves within a narrow band across the year. The monthly series runs from about 40.31¢/kWh in August to about 43.67¢/kWh in February, a spread of 8.0% around the monthly mean. Where that spread is this small, the annual figures in the table above describe an ordinary month here reasonably well, which is not true of every state.
Within-year profile computed from 36 monthly observations across 3 complete calendar years in EIA's residential series (monthly data begins 2023-01). Partial calendar years are excluded so a newer partial tail cannot bias January–May against later months. Peak and trough are the highest and lowest month averages across that record, not a forecast; the spread is quoted against this state's own monthly mean.
How often the rate has actually fallen
Hawaii has one of the least monotonic price records in the country, falling in 4 of its 9 year-on-year steps. A trend line drawn from the endpoints alone would hide that; the largest single fall, 2.27¢, came in 2025.
Recent years ran hotter, but only modestly
The gap between Hawaii's recent pace (6.0% a year) and its long-run pace (4.4% a year) is 1.6%, smaller than in 51% of states. Prices here still rose, but the last five years did not break sharply from the state's own trend.
Both figures are compound annual rates over EIA's published residential series, so the five-year and full-record windows are directly comparable; the national comparison ranks all 51 states and DC on the same measure. Annual state-level averages, not individual bills.
2025 Rate
40.59¢/kWh
vs National Avg
+134.6%
5-Year Change
+34.0%
Since 2016
+47.8%
Annual Average Prices
| Year | Residential | US Avg |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 40.59¢/kWh -5.3% | 17.30¢/kWh |
| 2024 | 42.86¢/kWh +1.1% | 16.48¢/kWh |
| 2023 | 42.39¢/kWh -1.5% | 16.00¢/kWh |
| 2022 | 43.03¢/kWh +28.5% | 15.04¢/kWh |
| 2021 | 33.49¢/kWh +10.6% | 13.66¢/kWh |
| 2020 | 30.28¢/kWh -5.6% | 13.15¢/kWh |
| 2019 | 32.06¢/kWh -1.3% | 13.01¢/kWh |
| 2018 | 32.47¢/kWh +10.1% | 12.87¢/kWh |
| 2017 | 29.50¢/kWh +7.4% | 12.89¢/kWh |
| 2016 | 27.47¢/kWh | 12.55¢/kWh |
Trajectory peers
Which states followed a similar residential price path?
Each state begins at an index of 100 in 2016; the comparison then measures how closely its annual path follows Hawaii through 2025. This compares the shape of the EIA series, not the price level, and does not claim that two states share the same market or causes.
Closest path shapes
Nearest matches after each state starts at an index of 100
- Massachusetts +60.4% since 2016
- Rhode Island +58.2% since 2016
- Connecticut +46.8% since 2016
- Maine +75.5% since 2016
- New Hampshire +33.6% since 2016
- Florida +38.8% since 2016
- Texas +40.8% since 2016
- New York +50.1% since 2016
Other steeper paths
Nearest unused states with a larger 2016–2025 rise
- California +87.1% since 2016
- District of Columbia +78.5% since 2016
Calculated from 51 jurisdictions covering the complete 2016–2025 annual window. Directional lists exclude states already shown as the closest matches, so every name appears once.
Provider record
Largest bundled residential providers EIA reports for Hawaii
EIA-861 table 6 lists 9 reporting entities here for 2024, ordered by residential customer count. A provider's appearance is not evidence that it serves every address or that a household can choose it.
| Provider | Ownership | Residential customers | EIA average price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiian Electric Co Inc | Investor Owned | 276,206 | 42.87¢/kWh |
| Hawaii Electric Light Co Inc | Investor Owned | 78,386 | 48.31¢/kWh |
| Maui Electric Co Ltd | Investor Owned | 61,811 | 43.96¢/kWh |
| Kauai Island Utility Cooperative | Cooperative | 30,109 | 41.29¢/kWh |
| Sunrun Inc. | Behind the Meter | 15,122 | 28.34¢/kWh |
| Tesla Inc. | Behind the Meter | 2,371 | 18.16¢/kWh |
| SunPower Capital, LLC | Behind the Meter | 1,116 | 59.57¢/kWh |
| Sunnova | Behind the Meter | 849 | 35.75¢/kWh |
| Spruce Finance | Behind the Meter | 481 | 12.21¢/kWh |
“Average price” is EIA's reported residential revenue divided by sales, not a tariff, plan offer, or bill quote. Source: EIA Electric Sales, Revenue, and Average Price, table 6.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Energy Guides
Where Hawaii's figures come from
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Prices in cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Annual averages.
Related
Read our methodology , how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.