Alabama Electricity Rates per kWh: Alabama Power, the Freeze and the TVA Cities

Alabama’s rate freeze is really six separate promises with different end dates, and the formula that has moved bills most is left out of the law. We set out each date, what the 2026 law changed about who decides, and why a level rate is not a level bill here.

What the freeze holds, and until when

Alabama Power’s “rate freeze” is not one thing. It is a December 2025 agreement with the Public Service Commission plus a 2026 law, and each piece of the bill has its own date.

Read the bottom row and top row together. The law bars increases in base rates set on 1 October 2026 until 1 January 2029. But Rate RSE, the formula that has actually moved Alabama bills, is left out of that law. So once the Commission’s moratorium ends in 2027, the formula appears free to move again, even with base rates frozen for another year. Fox10 called the impact unclear. Critics have said the freeze cuts nothing. That is right so far as it goes: a home’s rate stays roughly level, but no bill falls, and a hotter summer still costs more.

The plan has costs of its own. Any customer refund from the 2025 Rate RSE calculation goes to the Natural Disaster Reserve instead, and 2024 nuclear tax credits offset 2027 costs. The $622 million Lindsay Hill plant’s rate adjustments wait until 2028, with the company absorbing its 2027 costs.

How the 2026 law changes who decides

House Bill 475, called the Power to the People Act, did more than freeze a rate, and what it left out matters as much as what it kept. The substitute passed the Senate 32–0 and the House 72–26.

Alabama has not held a rate case in over 40 years. After the freeze, a formal hearing under oath takes five of the seven commissioners, or the Secretary, who serves at the governor’s pleasure and will set the Commission’s agendas. Fox10 notes that this stops short of a rate case. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mack Butler, opposed the substitute, saying Alabama is 16% of Southern Company’s customers and 33% of its profit. Alabama Power’s net profit rose $113 million in 2025. The expanded Commission will cost more than $2 million a year. We have booked a check for January 2027, when the Secretary is due.

Alabama Power or a TVA city: about $700 a year apart

No home can pick its supplier. At Alabama’s high use, the roughly 5¢ gap between Alabama Power and a north Alabama TVA city is worth about $700 a year to a typical home. Divide a bill’s total by its kWh for your own price, or use the utility menu’s 2025 average.

Alabama Power, the TVA cities and the co-ops

Alabama Power’s homes averaged 17.91¢ per kWh in 2025. None of the freeze above applies to these others. Huntsville Utilities charged 12.51¢, Decatur Utilities 12.14¢, Florence Utilities 12.39¢ and Athens Utilities 11.58¢. They pass on TVA’s wholesale changes, such as the 5.25% base rate rise of October 2024.

EIA-861 for 2025: each utility’s revenue from homes divided by the kWh they used, so monthly charges are spread into the price.

Dothan Utilities, a city system outside TVA, charged 10.66¢, the lowest large figure. Baldwin EMC on the Gulf coast charged 14.17¢, while Central Alabama Electric and Covington Electric charged 17.21¢ and 17.62¢, close to Alabama Power.

Fourth-highest use in the country

Only three states use more per home (4th of 51), so a mid-table price becomes the 4th largest yearly bill. The average home used 1,555 kWh in August and paid $254, against 842 kWh and $147 in April. That is why a level rate does not mean a level bill.

From 10.7¢ to over 16¢

The price went from 10.67¢ in 2010 to 16.44¢, up 54%, with a record of 17.41¢ in April 2026. It jumped more than a cent in 2022, as Alabama Power raised rates several times between mid-2022 and January 2023, about $22 a month in all on a typical bill. Each year since 2010 has come in below the US average.

Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi pay less

Alabama is the dearest of the 4 East South Central states and 23rd of 51. Tennessee and Kentucky came in 2.5¢ to 3¢ lower and Mississippi about 1.6¢ less. In Georgia, also on a Southern Company utility, homes paid about 1.3¢ less.

Across the border: Tennessee 13.61¢, Mississippi 14.85¢, Georgia 15.17¢, Florida 15.41¢.

All 50 states and DC on one page, with a map.

What is still unclear

The table summarises the Commission plan from Alabama Power’s release and its SEC filing. The law comes from press coverage, not the statute’s text, and we did not confirm that the four new members have taken their seats. The monthly series has a striking pair: December 2021 fell about 27% and January 2022 rose about 32%, and we found no rate change behind them.

Figures to August 2026 (EIA marks recent months preliminary), utility figures for 2025, refreshed 3 November 2026. How every number in this series is made and checked.

• Alabama, every month since 2010 (CSV): price per kWh, kWh and bill per home, and the US price.
• Every state, DC and the US (CSV)
• Everything above with the utility and supplier figures (JSON)

EIA data is in the public domain: credit the U.S. Energy Information Administration. A link back is welcome.

Questions

Electricity rates in other states

Version history

• 2.0 (6 November 2026): rebuilt around what the freeze covers and when each part ends, and how the 2026 law changed who sets rates.
• 1.0.1 (November 2026): wording and page heading tidied; no figures changed.
• 1.0 (November 2026): first published.