Nevada Electricity Rates per kWh: NV Energy North vs South, and the Summer Bill

No state’s electricity price has risen less since 2010 than Nevada’s, and Nevada homes pay about a quarter less per kWh than the US average and well under half what Californians pay. The catch is the summer: the average Nevada home uses about 2.7 times as much power in July and August as in February, the widest swing of any state, so bills arrive in a few big months. Here: the monthly price since 2010, the quarterly fuel rate that moves it, what the new daily demand charge in southern Nevada means from January 2027, NV Energy north against south and the smaller systems, and a calculator for your own year.

Fifteen years almost flat, with one spike

In 2010 a kWh cost Nevada homes 12.36¢. For more than a decade it stayed between about 11¢ and 13¢, and in 2020 it was lower than in 2010. Then natural gas prices surged: the yearly average jumped to 13.8¢ in 2022 and 16.7¢ in 2023, the only year since 2015 that Nevada paid more than the US average, before falling back to 13.3¢ in 2025. Over the latest 12 months it was 13.45¢, just 9% above 2010, the smallest rise of any state. The record month remains 17.59¢ in April 2023.

The fuel rate that changes every quarter

Most of what moves a Nevada bill from one season to the next is not a rate case but NV Energy’s fuel and purchased-power charge. Four times a year, on 15 February, 15 May, 15 August and 15 November, each NV Energy utility resets its base tariff energy rate and deferred energy adjustment, and the change takes effect 45 days later. The company passes the cost through dollar for dollar without profit; the Public Utilities Commission checks whether the purchases were prudent in an annual review afterwards.

Because much of NV Energy’s power comes from gas-fired plants, the rate follows gas prices with a lag. That is what drove 2023: after fuel and power costs spiked in 2022–23, NV Energy asked regulators to delay that summer’s adjustment, which it said saved southern Nevada homes about $50 a month in July, August and September. The latest change runs the other way: from 1 October 2026 the average southern Nevada home bill fell by $5.01 a month (3.63%) and the average northern Nevada home bill by $1.86 (1.82%). Separately, the annual review of 2025 fuel costs, heard in August 2026, could add 73 cents a month in the south and 83 cents in the north if approved as filed.

Southern Nevada’s daily demand charge from January 2027

From January 2027, Nevada Power homes in southern Nevada will see a daily demand charge on their bills, approved in the last rate case. Each day, the meter finds your highest 15-minute burst of use and turns it into kilowatts; you pay 14¢ for each of those kilowatts, and the count starts again the next day. In return the price per kWh falls by about 1.675¢. NV Energy says the change restructures the bill rather than adding a new cost, and it offers a tool in MyAccount that estimates the effect for homes with at least a year of billing history. Solar homes are charged only on what they draw from the grid. Northern Nevada is not affected until a future rate case.

What it means in practice: running the air conditioner, oven, dryer and an EV charger all at once on a summer afternoon now costs more than spreading them across the day. A home whose biggest 15 minutes reach 5 kW pays about 70¢ that day in demand charges; one that keeps the peak to 3 kW pays 42¢.

Pricing a Las Vegas summer, or a Reno winter

Over the latest 12 months the average Nevada home used 10,891 kWh and paid about $1,465, 42nd of 51 states for the yearly bill. The calculator starts from your utility’s 2025 average; enter your own kWh from a summer and a winter bill to see your year.

NV Energy north and south, and the small systems

Almost every Nevada home is served by one of two NV Energy utilities. Nevada Power, in Las Vegas and the south, charged 13.08¢ per kWh all in during 2025. Sierra Pacific Power, in Reno, Carson City and the north, charged 13.65¢; its homes use about a quarter less power than southern Nevada homes on average. The biggest shared project on both bills is Greenlink, the $4.2 billion pair of transmission lines linking the two systems; regulators split its cost 70% to the south and 30% to the north.

Two smaller systems serve rural homes. Valley Electric Association, a co-op around Pahrump, charged 15.33¢, and the Overton Power District in the Moapa Valley 12.46¢.

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

Moving from California

A California home paid about 32¢ per kWh over the last 12 months against Nevada’s 13.45¢, so the same kWh cost well under half as much. Expect a different shape to the year, though: desert summers push use far higher than on the California coast, so a Las Vegas August bill can still be large. Arizona, the nearest comparison for desert living, paid about 1.9¢ more per kWh than Nevada.

Three summer months, nine quiet ones

Use in July and August runs about 2.7 times February’s, a wider swing than in any other state, Arizona included.

Idaho and Utah pay less, Arizona and Colorado more

Idaho and Utah paid a little less, by about 0.7¢ and 0.2¢ per kWh; Arizona and New Mexico close to 2¢ more, and Colorado about 3.2¢ more.

Across the border: Idaho 12.77¢, Utah 13.26¢, Arizona 15.39¢, Oregon 15.53¢, California 32.33¢.

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

Fuel-rate resets in the monthly figures

The price per kWh in these figures moves sharply in several years, by up to 17% in a month, mostly in July, October and November or January. Those are the months when NV Energy’s quarterly fuel rate takes effect and when use swings from summer highs to winter lows, which changes how far the fixed monthly charge is spread. They are shown as EIA reported 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.

• Nevada, 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

• 1.0.1 (November 2026): wording and page heading tidied; no figures changed.
• 1.0 (November 2026): first published.