Energy Data Reports
Analyses we ran on federal energy data, each with the full table behind it. Every one is free to cite or republish with attribution — the underlying figures are on the open data page.
The Most Expensive Utilities in America, Ranked
300 US electric utilities ranked by what customers actually pay per kWh — effective rates computed from EIA revenue and sales data, not advertised rates.
Effective residential rates across 300 US utilities span eightfold, from 6.0¢ to 48.3¢ per kWh. Almost all of that is geography rather than utility choice — the median state's utilities differ by only 1.4×, and just 4 of 40 measurable states spread wider than 2×.
Source: EIA Form 861 · Updated 2026-08-16
Read the reportWhat Every Appliance in Your Home Costs to Run, Ranked
143 household appliances ranked by what they cost to run per year at the US average electricity rate — including the always-on loads that outspend the ones you notice.
Run time beats wattage. The highest-wattage appliance on the list — an 18 kW tankless water heater — costs less per year to run than a 1 kW mini-split, an eighteenth of its draw, because one runs in bursts and the other runs for hours.
Source: WattSimple appliance data, EIA average rate · Updated 2026-08-17
Read the reportRate or Usage: What Actually Drives Your State's Electric Bill
How much electricity a state uses tells you almost nothing about its bill. We correlated EIA rate, consumption, and bill data across all 50 states and DC to find what actually moves the number.
Consumption barely predicts the bill (r = 0.06); price does (r = 0.60). The two offset each other so strongly — expensive states use less, cheap states use more (r = −0.74) — that bills vary less between states than either rates or usage do.
Source: EIA, 2024 annual · Updated 2026-08-17
Read the reportElectricity Prices Since 1990: Every State, Adjusted for Inflation
35 years of residential electricity prices in all 50 states and DC, in nominal and inflation-adjusted cents per kWh, from EIA Form 861 deflated with BLS CPI-U.
The nominal price rose in all 51 US jurisdictions since 1990 — the number everyone quotes, and misleading alone. After inflation the US price is DOWN 12%, and 36 of 51 states pay less in real terms than they did in 1990.
Source: EIA Form 861, BLS CPI-U · Updated 2026-08-17
Read the reportCiting or republishing
All of it is free to quote, chart, or republish — credit WattSimple and link to the report. Journalists and researchers who want the raw figures should start at /data, where the same datasets are downloadable as CSV and JSON under CC BY 4.0.