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Midwest energy costs: high use, middling prices, cheap propane

The Midwest burns more energy at home than any other U.S. region — 96.9 million Btu per household in EIA's Residential Energy Consumption Survey — yet spends a middling $1,892 per household, because its fuel prices sit in the middle or at the bottom of the national tables. Electricity averaged 11.51¢ to 19.30¢ per kWh across its twelve states in 2024, delivered natural gas ran from $8.99 per Mcf in North Dakota to $16.86 in Missouri, and in EIA's October 19, 2026 survey the region held most of the country's cheapest residential propane. Cold winters, not high prices, are the Midwest's energy problem.

Electricity, use and bills: EIA-861 Table 5A (2024). Gas: Natural Gas Annual Table 23 (2024). Propane: Heating Oil and Propane Update, week of October 19, 2026, dollars per gallon excluding taxes.

Why use is high and spending is not

RECS splits the Midwest into two divisions, and both sit at the top of the national consumption table: East North Central households averaged 98.3 MMBtu of site energy in 2020 and West North Central households 93.7 MMBtu, against a U.S. average of 76.8 MMBtu. The driver is space heating through long, cold winters, compounded by larger detached homes. Spending tells the other half of the story: those same divisions spent $1,915 and $1,844 per household, close to the U.S. average of $1,884 and far below New England's $2,539. The Midwest buys more energy than anywhere else and pays ordinary prices for it, so its total lands in the middle.

Two divisions, two electricity markets

The July 2026 monthly snapshot sharpens the split inside the region. EIA's Electric Power Monthly put East North Central residential electricity at 19.57¢ per kWh in July 2026, up 9.9% on July 2025, while West North Central sat at 15.89¢, up 4.1%. The annual 2024 table shows the same pattern state by state: Michigan, the region's most expensive state at 19.30¢, pays two-thirds more per kWh than North Dakota at 11.51¢, yet Michigan's average bill ($119.31 on 618 kWh) is almost identical to North Dakota's ($118.38 on 1,029 kWh). Price and usage trade places — states where gas and propane carry the heating load use fewer kilowatt-hours, so a high electric price does less damage to the monthly total.

Winter is the budget event

EIA's Winter Fuels Outlook for 2026–27 forecasts Midwest households, November through March, to spend $613 heating mainly with natural gas (down 10% on last winter), $1,380 with electricity (up 3%) and $1,305 with propane (down 4%). Propane deserves its own note: the region's survey prices in October 2026 — $1.651 a gallon in North Dakota, $1.704 in Iowa, $1.940 in Wisconsin — were the lowest in the country, well under the $2.689 U.S. average, reflecting the Midwest's position near propane supply and storage. Heating oil, by contrast, is a minor Midwest fuel that EIA surveys in only six of the twelve states; where it is surveyed it priced between $5.630 in Nebraska and $6.053 in Indiana in the same week. Households off the gas grid in this region usually face a propane decision, not an oil one, and the published prices explain why.

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 Short-Term Energy Outlook (published October 6, 2026) · EIA — Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) 2020, Table CE1.1. Last verified: October 2026 — energy prices move with seasons and markets; confirm the current rate on your own bill.

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