The average rate Connecticut businesses and residents paid for electricity last year was 16.98 cents per kilowatt hour, highest in the continental United States and third overall, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Connecticut was higher than the other typical high-cost states of New York (16.25 cents) and California (15.23), and only came in behind the remote states of Hawaii (33.53) and Alaska (17.58).
New England typically has the highest electricity rates of any region in the continental U.S. because the fuels used by power plants can’t be imported as easily into the region. A constraint in the natural gas pipeline last winter caused the wholesale electricity rates in January, February, and March 2014 to be the highest on record.
Connecticut typically is the highest among the New England states for reasons including taxes and fees, congestion in the transmission and distribution system, and having two areas of high electricity demand in Greater Hartford and Fairfield County.
