Understanding Your Electric Bill

Most electric bills bury the number that actually matters — your effective rate per kWh — under a stack of separately labeled fees, riders, and charges that make two bills from the same utility hard to compare month to month.

Find out what's actually driving the total

Supply charges, delivery charges, and various riders are often listed separately, and the line that looks like "the bill" is frequently not the whole story. Our guide to reading your electric bill breaks down what each line item represents and which ones are worth watching if your bill jumps unexpectedly.

Time-of-use rates change the math on when you use power, not just how much

If your utility has moved you onto — or offered you — a time-of-use plan, the price per kWh depends on when you use it, not just how much you use in total. Whether that's a good deal depends on how wide the gap is between peak and off-peak pricing and how flexible your household's usage actually is. Our time-of-use rates explained guide covers how to tell if a TOU plan is saving you money or quietly costing you more.

If you're generating your own power, billing structure matters just as much

Net metering and net billing — the two main ways utilities credit solar power you export — pay very different amounts for the same exported kWh. If that applies to your household, our Net Metering Explained guide is the fuller companion to this one.

Estimate your own numbers

Use our Electric Bill Estimator to model a monthly bill from your actual appliance usage instead of a one-size-fits-all household average.