How do I read my electricity bill?
Which number on the bill is the one that matters, how to separate the cost of electricity from the cost of being connected, and what to compare against what.
Reviewed
The two numbers that matter
The first is kilowatt-hours used. That is the only measure of how much electricity you actually consumed, and it is the number to compare between periods.
The second is the price per kilowatt-hour. Sometimes it is printed plainly; often it has to be derived by dividing the energy charge by the kilowatt-hours.
Everything else on the page is either those two multiplied together, or a charge that has nothing to do with how much you used.
Supply, delivery, and why the rate looks wrong
Most bills split the cost in two. Supply is the electricity itself. Delivery is the cost of moving it to you over poles and wires, and it is billed per kilowatt-hour as well.
People comparing rates often quote only the supply portion, which is why a bill can seem far more expensive than the advertised rate. The figure that matters is both parts added together.
In states with retail choice you can change the supply portion by switching supplier. The delivery portion is set by the utility that owns the wires and cannot be shopped.
Fixed charges are not usage
Nearly every bill carries a fixed monthly customer charge, typically between $5 and $25, payable whether you use a single kilowatt-hour or none at all.
This is why a very low-usage month still produces a bill, and why cutting consumption by half rarely halves the amount owed.
Every estimate on this site excludes fixed charges deliberately, because they are a cost of being connected rather than a cost of running anything.
What to compare against what
Compare kilowatt-hours with the same month last year, never with last month. Electricity use is strongly seasonal, and January against April tells you nothing.
If kilowatt-hours are flat but the bill rose, the price changed and no amount of switching things off will fix it. If kilowatt-hours rose, something in the house is using more.
Most bills print a twelve-month usage graph, which answers the seasonal question faster than any arithmetic.
Estimated readings
A bill marked estimated was not based on a real meter reading. The utility guessed from your history, and the correction arrives when the meter is next read.
That is why a bill can occasionally be startling: it may be catching up on several months of underestimation at once.
Submitting your own reading, where the utility allows it, prevents this entirely and costs nothing.