Idaho Utility Cost Calculator

Rivers keep it cheap

Idaho has the second-lowest residential electricity price in the country after North Dakota — 12.65¢ per kWh over the last year — and a 2024 all-sector price that ranked 44th. Hydropower is the reason: dams such as Idaho Power’s Brownlee, the state’s largest generator, produced 46% of Idaho’s 2024 electricity. Natural gas supplied 31% and wind 15%; coal is essentially absent from in-state generation. Idaho still imports power, consuming about 26 TWh against 20 TWh generated.

Idaho Power, Avista, PacifiCorp

Investor-owned companies regulated by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission made 86% of retail sales in 2024: Idaho Power (5.8 TWh to homes), Avista (1.4 TWh) and PacifiCorp (0.8 TWh). Kootenai Electric and 16 other cooperatives, about 109,000 accounts in all, plus 11 public systems such as the City of Idaho Falls, serve the rest.

Water heating and the summer peak

Idaho households used about 737 kWh in October 2025 and 1,112 kWh in July 2026. Electric water heaters are a big load here — about 3,791 kWh a year where used in the 2020 survey, the highest figure of any state. EIA’s final 2024 average bill was $108.73 at 11.52¢; the latest twelve months average $114.36.

Heating the high desert

Idaho’s natural gas was the cheapest in the country in 2025 at $0.740 per therm, and 61% of homes heat with it; a gas account averaged about 720 therms. The electric bill still peaks with summer cooling — $152.66 in July 2026 — and dips in the fall. Propane households are heavy users at 511 gallons a year in the 2020 survey, and propane was $2.397 a gallon when EIA’s 2025–26 survey ended.

For help with heating costs, the HHS listing directs Idaho residents to the Idaho CareLine (2-1-1); the program sits in the Division of Welfare at the Department of Health and Welfare.