Mapping Americans' Energy Costs By State In 2024
- Thread starter seminole97
- Start date
Summer AC usage likely bumps us up. Alaska has like <10% of residents using AC.
I wouldn’t have guessed Iowans pay more than Alaskans.
Texas is the 2nd cheapest? Don't tell joel, he'll lose his mind! LOL
I look at this less from a political standpoint and more from a weather standpoint. Primary drivers of costs are going to be heating and AC.
Thing is with the south for the most part their monthly energy bills are lower because for a good portion of the year in the winter they can turn off the AC but they don't exactly need the heat either. At least not that much.
The northern US is north enough that we need heat in the winter but also not so far north that we don't need AC in the summer.
And the same could be said for us in Alaska...we ran the heat all winter long, but didn't need it or the AC in the summer. Problem is two fold, though. A. Summers are shorter than winters and B. If you have electric heat vs gas you're screwed!
Alaska also has a lot of poor native villages where the buildings are little better than shacks and are likely poorly insulated.
Just looking at the California numbers makes me know this is complete BS.
I wouldn’t have guessed Iowans pay more than Alaskans.
Most of these numbers are probably jacked up by commercial buildings. Most people aren't spending that much on a monthly basis.
Also may cost more because it's harder to get it to them. This is average cost, not average units used.
It also says it factors in motor fuel. Have to drive 5 hours to get anywhere in those states?
Less fuel for a dog sled?
I wouldn’t have guessed Iowans pay more than Alaskans.
Iowa gets 60% of our electricity from the wind. Is that why it’s so expensive. California produces so much electricity from solar that they can’t use it all during the day when folks are at work. The state may no longer subsidize solar like they were and solar companies are laying off help left and right…
A lot of the most populated places in Cali are close to the coast. Being close to the coast has a tendency to protect you from weather extremes.
Not really. Some of the coastal areas don’t need cooling much, but most of California is not that. I was just in San Fran this week. It was like 115 in Sacramento while it was 65 in SF, 85 in San Jose, 110 in Modesto. Go down to LA, you’ll find the same. Millions of people sweltering.
There are like 50 million people in Cali, most don’t live right near the coast. Get a few miles inland and you’re getting the devils dick.
And California electricity rates are nearly double the national average
We are in the Iowa lakes Rec grid and they have no wind.
Across the road they are in Mid-American grid who have tons of wind and their rates are much cheaper.
Iowa has a lot of search engine hubs that take huge amounts of electric...maybe that skews this stat?
If thats the case in regards to home heating oil, why isn't the NE more expensive? I thought most homes used heating oil in that part of the country.
The biggest lie I was told in Oregon was that we didn't need an AC.
We were 50 miles from the coast and it was hot AF from June to September.
