Residential electricity averaged 18.83 cents per kilowatt-hour in April 2026, up 7.3% in a year. Most of that increase was granted in writing, by a state commission, at the end of an 11-month legal proceeding almost nobody attends.

Household power rates are up sharply in data-center states like Ohio and Virginia. Here's the mechanism turning the AI boom into a line on your bill, and what actually moves the number.