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Louisiana electricity cost: the cheapest power, the heaviest use
Louisiana holds both ends of EIA's electricity table at once. Residential electricity averaged 11.73¢ per kWh in 2024 — one of the lowest prices in the United States — with the July 2026 snapshot at 12.72¢. And Louisiana households used 1,202 kWh a month, the most electricity of any state in the country, 39% above the U.S. average of 863 kWh. The two extremes nearly cancel: the average monthly bill was $140.96, a dollar and change below the U.S. average of $142.26. Louisiana does not have an electricity price problem or, on average, a bill problem — it has a consumption level that would be unaffordable at almost any other state's price.
| Louisiana at a glance | Figure (with source period) |
|---|---|
| Average electricity price (2024) | 11.73¢ per kWh — U.S. average 16.48¢ |
| Latest monthly snapshot (July 2026, preliminary) | 12.72¢ per kWh |
| Average electricity use (2024) | 1,202 kWh per month — U.S. average 863 kWh; highest in the U.S. |
| Average monthly electric bill (2024) | $140.96 — U.S. average $142.26 |
| West South Central division price (July 2026) | 15.21¢ per kWh (LA, TX, OK, AR blended) |
| Natural gas, residential delivered (2024) | $16.38 per Mcf (about $1.58 per therm) — U.S. average $14.50 |
| Heating oil / propane state averages | Not published by EIA for Louisiana (neither survey covers the state) |
Enter your own monthly kWh and price them at the Louisiana average — then price Louisiana's 1,202 kWh at the U.S. average price to see what the cheap rate is worth.
Open the energy cost calculatorWhy Louisiana uses more electricity than anywhere else
The 1,202 kWh figure is climate expressed as a meter reading. Louisiana's cooling season is long, hot and humid — dehumidification loads run even when temperatures moderate — and EIA's summer analysis (air conditioning at about 18% of annual household electricity use nationally, consumption peaking in July and August) describes a national average that Louisiana exceeds on every driver. Much Louisiana heating is electric as well, so winter adds a second, smaller peak instead of switching the load to another fuel. RECS completes the picture: West South Central households used 69.0 MMBtu of site energy a year and spent $1,799 — unremarkable totals, because the region's dominant energy carrier is its cheapest one. The sensitivity runs the other way from the Northeast: at 1,202 kWh a month, each additional cent per kWh would add about $12.02 to the average monthly bill (arithmetic on the published usage) — Louisiana households are more exposed to price changes than any other state's, precisely because the current price is the only thing keeping the bill ordinary. Priced at the U.S. average of 16.48¢, Louisiana's usage would cost about $198.09 a month (same arithmetic) instead of $140.96.
Electric decisions at 11.73 cents
Home EV charging is close to the cheapest in the country: $7.04 for a 60 kWh full charge and $39.10 per 1,000 miles at the labeled 3.0 miles-per-kWh assumption, from this site's EV guide, against $9.89 and $54.93 nationally. Electric heat, at about $34.37 per million Btu before efficiency (arithmetic on EIA's 3,412 Btu per kWh), beats delivered gas on a heat-pump multiplier and stays competitive even as resistance heat — notable because Louisiana's delivered gas, at $16.38 per Mcf (about $15.80 per million Btu, or $1.58 a therm), prices 13% above the U.S. average despite the state's producing-state reputation, the same pattern our Texas natural gas deep-dive documents next door. EIA's Winter Fuels Outlook forecasts South households to spend $511 heating with gas, $1,079 with electricity and $1,164 with propane this winter (November through March) — in Louisiana, winter is the cheap season; the budget event is August.
The surrounding fuels, and the gaps
For the delivered fuels, EIA's record simply stops at Louisiana's border: the state is in neither the 21-state heating-oil survey nor the 38-state propane survey, so no state average exists for either fuel and this site publishes none. A Louisiana propane household benchmarking a supplier has only the national survey average — $2.689 a gallon in the week of October 19, 2026, describing surveyed states — as context, and should treat it as context only, not as a Louisiana price. The state-level starting point remains our Louisiana state guide; this page is the electricity deep-dive behind it, and our summer cooling page shows Louisiana at the head of the high-cooling-state table.
Sources: EIA — Electric Sales, Revenue & Average Price 2024, Table 5A (Form EIA-861) · EIA — Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A (July 2026) · EIA — Natural Gas Annual 2024, Table 23 (Form EIA-176) · EIA — Heating Oil and Propane Update (week of October 19, 2026) · EIA — Winter Fuels Outlook, October 2026 · EIA — Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) 2020, Table CE1.1 · EIA — Today in Energy, summer residential electricity use (RECS-based). Last verified: October 2026 — energy prices move with seasons and markets; confirm the current rate on your own bill.
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Louisiana energy costs (state guide) · Summer cooling costs · Texas electricity cost in depth · EV home charging cost by state · Electricity prices & average bills by state