2025 Residential
15.41¢/kWh
-10.9% vs US avg
West Virginia residential electricity costs 15.41¢/kWh in 2025
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration retail-sales series (2025 annual frequency), residential electricity in West Virginia costs 15.41¢/kWh, 10.9% below the national average. Since 2016, the rate has changed +34.7%.
Where West Virginia sits: according to EIA's annual retail-sales series, its residential rate changed +34.7% between 2016 and 2025, the 19th steepest of 51 jurisdictions (the 50 states and the District of Columbia), a steeper move than 64% of the other 50. Ranked on the same 2016 to 2025 window for every state; see the methodology.
Reading the West Virginia 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.
West Virginia residential electricity moved from 11.44¢/kWh in 2016 to 15.41¢/kWh in 2025, a cumulative change of +34.7% over 10 reporting years. The more recent five-year window changed +30.6% 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, West Virginia now sits 10.9% below the U.S. average for 2025.
Commercial customers in West Virginia paid 11.75¢/kWh in 2025, while industrial customers paid 8.11¢/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 1.9x, one descriptive benchmark for comparison with peer states.
EIA reports 6 generation sources for West Virginia; ranked by share of generation they run coal, natural gas, wind, hydro, solar. Of the 11 sources EIA reports somewhere in the country, West Virginia records no generation from biomass, geothermal, nuclear, other 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 Washington and Wisconsin; 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.
Within the year, October is the costliest month on average
The annual averages above smooth over a repeating within-year pattern. Across EIA's monthly series, West Virginia's residential rate averages about 15.87¢/kWh in October and about 13.72¢/kWh in January, a 14.3% spread around the monthly mean. 24 of the 51 states with a full monthly record sit in this ten-to-twenty percent band. The monthly and annual series summarize the same retail-sales activity at different frequencies; the annual price is revenue divided by sales for the full year, not the arithmetic mean of twelve monthly price ratios.
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
The climb has one interruption: across 9 year-on-year steps, West Virginia's residential rate fell exactly once, in 2018, by 0.45¢. Every other step was upward.
A clear acceleration, close to the national middle
West Virginia's long-run pace is about 3.4% a year; the last five years ran at about 5.5%. The 2.1% difference sits in the upper half of states but well short of the extremes, which is the ordinary shape of the post-2020 rate cycle rather than anything specific to this state.
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.
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 West Virginia 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
Other steeper paths
Nearest unused states with a larger 2016–2025 rise
- Washington +38.3% since 2016
- Illinois +41.1% since 2016
- Oregon +44.2% since 2016
- Indiana +37.7% since 2016
- Texas +40.8% since 2016
- New Jersey +44.0% since 2016
Other gentler paths
Nearest unused states with a smaller 2016–2025 rise
- Georgia +28.1% since 2016
- Vermont +32.0% since 2016
- Mississippi +34.0% since 2016
- North Carolina +27.1% since 2016
- Oklahoma +28.6% since 2016
- Kentucky +26.2% 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.
Price Trends, West Virginia vs National Average
2025 Rate
15.41¢/kWh
vs National Avg
-10.9%
5-Year Change
+30.6%
Since 2016
+34.7%
Annual Average Prices
| Year | Residential | US Avg |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 15.41¢/kWh +2.3% | 17.30¢/kWh |
| 2024 | 15.07¢/kWh +7.3% | 16.48¢/kWh |
| 2023 | 14.05¢/kWh +6.2% | 16.00¢/kWh |
| 2022 | 13.23¢/kWh +8.9% | 15.04¢/kWh |
| 2021 | 12.15¢/kWh +3.0% | 13.66¢/kWh |
| 2020 | 11.80¢/kWh +4.9% | 13.15¢/kWh |
| 2019 | 11.25¢/kWh +0.6% | 13.01¢/kWh |
| 2018 | 11.18¢/kWh -3.9% | 12.87¢/kWh |
| 2017 | 11.63¢/kWh +1.7% | 12.89¢/kWh |
| 2016 | 11.44¢/kWh | 12.55¢/kWh |
Provider record
Largest bundled residential providers EIA reports for West Virginia
EIA-861 table 6 lists 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appalachian Power Co | Investor Owned | 348,946 | 16.77¢/kWh |
| Monongahela Power Co | Investor Owned | 334,588 | 13.97¢/kWh |
| The Potomac Edison Company | Investor Owned | 135,266 | 12.59¢/kWh |
| Wheeling Power Co | Investor Owned | 34,392 | 17.41¢/kWh |
| Black Diamond Power Co | Investor Owned | 3,479 | 15.35¢/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 West Virginia'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.