One of the perennial questions we ask at EPRINC is “What contributes most to electricity prices?” Bad policies, generation mix, or rising demand? This week’s chart takes a closer look at this question by comparing the 20-year increase in average electricity prices across all sectors in the 50 states.
California had the highest incremental increase between July 2005 and July 2025. The Golden State saw its price more than double, from 12.76 cents/kWh to 30.04 cents/kWh (in nominal terms). Five of the six New England states rank among the top 10 states with the steepest increases; Vermont didn’t fare much better, at 12th overall.
States with price growth of less than 5 cents/kWh (teal-turquoise) have either abundant, diverse energy resources such as hydropower or policy environments conducive to rapid deployment of affordable and reliable generation, particularly natural gas power plants.