US Industrial Electricity Price (2001–2026)
The US Industrial Electricity Price is the national average retail rate paid by manufacturers and heavy industry, in cents per kilowatthour, published monthly by the EIA since 2001. It is the lowest of the three customer-class rates — industry buys power at high voltage and enormous scale — making it a direct input to US manufacturing competitiveness. Range: 4.71 cents (2002) to 9.38 cents (August 2022); 8.66 cents mid-2026, less than half the household rate.
Dataset: US Industrial Electricity Price (2001–2026) · Updated 2026-05-01
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Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) · series electricity/retail-sales (sectorid=IND)
Macro Takeaway
Industrial power is cheap because heavy users take electricity at transmission voltage in huge, steady volumes, avoiding most of the distribution cost that loads the residential rate. At 8.66 cents versus 18.83 for households, the gap is the cost-to-serve gradient made visible — and it is the single most important electricity number for manufacturing location decisions.
Industrial rates are the closest of the three to actual generation-fuel cost, since the grid-cost overhead is proportionally smallest. This series therefore tracks fuel and wholesale markets more than the residential rate does — the 2022 peak of 9.38 cents coincided with the natural-gas price spike, a linkage largely absent from the household series.
US industrial electricity is cheap by international standards, a structural advantage for energy-intensive manufacturing; this series is the quantitative basis for that claim and for tracking how the advantage erodes or widens over time.
Dataset Overview
| Indicator | US Industrial Electricity Price (2001–2026) |
|---|---|
| Geography | United States |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Period | 2001 – present |
| Variables | date, industrial_electricity_price |
| Format | CSV, Excel (XLSX) |
| Sources | U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) |
| Last updated | — |
Dataset Variables
The CSV and Excel files contain the following columns.
| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
date | Date (YYYY-MM-DD) | First day of the reference month |
industrial_electricity_price | Float | US average industrial electricity price, cents per kilowatthour |
A value of 8.66 means industrial customers paid an average of 8.66 cents per kilowatthour that month.
Download the Complete Dataset
The full dataset is available in CSV and Excel formats.
EIA Direct API Access
The underlying data comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration API v2 (route electricity/retail-sales, series electricity/retail-sales (sectorid=IND)). An EIA API key is free from the EIA developer portal.
Direct CSV Access — Eco3min Structured Dataset
https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/us-electricity-price-industrial.csv
This URL returns the complete, cleaned dataset in CSV format. It can be used directly in pandas, R, curl, or any data tool — no key required.
Using the Dataset in Python
import pandas as pd
url = "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/us-electricity-price-industrial.csv"
df = pd.read_csv(url, parse_dates=["date"])
print(f"Latest: {df['industrial_electricity_price'].iloc[-1]:.3f} cents/kWh")
print(df.tail())
Using the Dataset in R
library(readr) url <- "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/us-electricity-price-industrial.csv" df <- read_csv(url) tail(df) summary(df$industrial_electricity_price)
Both examples load the dataset directly from the URL — no download or API key required.
Methodology
Compiled from Form EIA-826 utility filings, dividing total industrial revenue by total industrial sales — a revenue-weighted all-in retail rate, updated monthly with a roughly two-month lag.
This dataset is refreshed daily (Mon–Sat) via automated pull from the EIA API v2; new observations appear with each source release.
Data Quality & Provider Notes
- Release lag. About two months; a revenue-and-sales average.
- Customer class. Manufacturing and heavy industry — transmission voltage, very high volume.
- Closest to fuel cost. Smallest grid-cost overhead, so most exposed to generation-fuel prices.
- Position. The lowest of the three sector rates, structurally.
- Known gaps. None; continuous monthly since January 2001.
Common Pitfalls When Using This Series
- Comparing it to residential without context. Industrial is under half the household rate by design; the level only means something against its class.
- Assuming full decoupling from fuel. Unlike residential, industrial rates do partly track gas and wholesale power — the grid overhead is smaller.
- Reading it as the wholesale price. It is still a retail rate with some regulated cost, not a market LMP.
- Ignoring regional dispersion. Industrial rates vary enormously by state; the national average hides siting-relevant spreads.
Historical Regimes
2001–2008 — Low and rising. From the 4.71-cent low (2002) up toward 7 cents.
2009–2014 — Plateau. Range-bound as recession capped demand.
2015–2020 — Gas-glut softness. Cheap generation fuel kept industrial rates flat to lower — the fuel linkage showing.
2021–2026 — Fuel-driven peak. The 2022 gas spike drove the 9.38-cent high (August 2022), easing to 8.66 by mid-2026.
Related Macroeconomic Datasets
- US Residential Electricity Price — the household rate, more than double
- US Commercial Electricity Price — the services-sector rate above it
- Natural Gas Price — Henry Hub — the generation fuel this rate partly tracks
- US Industrial Production — the manufacturing activity this cost feeds into
Macroeconomic Dataset Hub
This dataset is part of the Eco3min macro-financial data repository.
Explore the Eco3min Commodity Data Hub
Sources
- U.S. Energy Information Administration — Electricity Retail Sales, Form EIA-826 (industrial sector, US average)
Dataset Reference
Last updated — 4 August 2026
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