Smart Hours in Your State

Energy consumption (i.e., electricity use) per household varies substantially in the US, with the south-central and southeastern states consuming more electrical energy per month.

Average monthly electricity consumption (kWh per household), Source: EIA

Before proceeding on this topic any further it is useful to clarify a few terms.  Power can be expressed in units of kiloWatts (kW).  Most electrically powered devices will draw a relatively constant amount of power when being operated, such as a 60 watt (W) light bulb.  Energy can be expressed in units of kilowatt-hours (kWh) or as a 'rate' of power use.  For example, a 60 W light bulb operated continuously for 24-hours will consume 60 W x 24 hr = 1440 Wh or 1.44 kWh.  Only covering that as a pre-apology for any misuse of the terms by Triple E, units of measure are more important to keep track of than the terms.  For more explanation on electricity, go to How Stuff Works, here we will focus on the practical facts.

Triple E Agent Assignment:
Chew on electricity consumption data, and identify options for greening up...

Why is there such variability in kWh per household? and what are the costs to the consumer?

It is difficult to attribute electrical energy consumption [rates] to only one factor, but that's where we start.  Triple E would say that the disparity in electricity use in the states is due, in large part, to climate control measures such as air-conditioning (AC).  Hot and humid states will be running the AC for longer periods of time, and may even have more than one AC unit on an individual home.  The kilowatts and kilowatt-hours add up pretty quickly.

Maybe you can see from Triple E's chart below that the average household in Louisiana (LA) has the highest electricity consumption rate at 1348 kWh per month followed by the average Tennessee (TN) household at 1325 kWh per month.  Households in which states have the lowest rates of electricity consumption? Maine (ME) at 521 kWh per month followed by California (CA) at 567 kWh per month.  Read the average kWh per household for your home state from the chart below.
 

Average monthly electricity consumption (kWh per household), Source: EIA

Cost of electricity per kWh also varies widely across the country.  Idaho (ID) has the lowest cost at $0.0787 per kWh followed by Washington (WA) at $0.0828 per kWh.  Hawaii (HI) is by far the most expensive with a stunning $0.3468 per kWh, following at a distant second-most expensive is New York (NY) at $0.1826 per kWh.  There are so many factors in play here, Triple E will defer to EIA for an explanation.

Someone once said, 'We cannot conserve our way to Energy Independence.'  This statement can be interpreted in a lot of ways, Triple E's first interpretation is that we shouldn't bother conserving energy.  Triple E first and foremost will encourage responsible energy management, which includes energy conservation in each and every home (see  Smart Hours article).  In addition to conserving energy on the homefront, saving a dollar or a thousand dollars by shopping around for your electrical utility can also conserve energy.  For another electrical utility to supply electricity to your home at a lower rate, they have to be cutting cost when generating electricity (58% of electricity cost is due to generation).  So, if you live in one of the 15 states that have Competing Electrical Utilities - you can conserve at two scales.

There are so many spin-offs to this discussion, that's why Triple E is here.

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Triple E.