Vermont Electricity Rates per kWh: All 17 Utilities, and What GMP Really Costs

Vermont has the lowest home electricity price in New England, and that statewide figure tells you very little about your own bill. Your address picks one of 17 utilities, and their rates sit more than 11¢ apart. The biggest of them also adds a percentage line that its rate sheet does not show, so most quoted GMP prices are too low.

GMP’s 22.6¢ is not the price you pay

Green Mountain Power serves about seven in ten Vermont homes. Its Rate 1 sheet, from bills dated 1 October 2026, says $0.660 a day plus 22.639¢ per kWh. It also says the rate is subject to adjustment, and that adjustment is the part most rate sites leave out.

The bill line is now called Rate Plan and Storm Adjustments. It is 7.63% from 1 October 2026, down from 8.15%, and it applies on top of the base charges. Most of it, 5.76%, collects power supply, regional grid and major storm costs. The other 1.87% shares out earnings from an earlier year and runs through March 2027.

The state’s 0.5% gross receipts tax on electricity is not included, and it would add under $1.50 at these sizes. As a check, GMP’s notice said a 7.5% base increase meant about $10 at 550 kWh, and our base charges give $10.28.

Each kWh you avoid saves about 25.4¢, because only the daily charge is fixed. With the October base rise of 5.51% and the lower adjustment together, a 600 kWh bill rose about $8, or 5.0%.

That gap explains why the federal average, 23.90¢, looks low next to this table. It divides money collected by power sold, which spreads in lower-priced utilities. We also expect solar credits and income discounts to pull it down, and it may not include the efficiency charge. A GMP home without solar or a discount should expect to pay above that figure.

Four big utilities at the same usage

These four serve about nine in ten Vermont homes. We used each one’s published rates and the efficiency charge, so the bills compare fairly.

The co-ops and Burlington price their first 100 kWh lower and the rest higher. Washington Electric charges 9.841¢, then 24.556¢. Vermont Electric charges 11.635¢, then 23.483¢. Burlington charges 14.442¢, then 19.744¢, and its figures include a 3.5% city franchise fee on all but the first block. GMP has a single energy price.

Burlington is cheapest here and uses the least: its homes averaged about 5,000 kWh a year, against about 7,200 at GMP. A bill difference is partly a usage difference, which is why this table holds usage fixed. We applied no adjustor for the co-ops, because their published rates show none, so treat those two rows as the minimum.

All 17 Vermont utilities, lowest rate first

The Public Service Department keeps this table for net metering, and it is the only full list we found. Its blended rate is what each utility’s energy charges average at that utility’s own typical use. It was taken in March 2026 and leaves out customer charges and adjustors, so read it as a ranking of energy prices, not a bill.

The low end is mostly old town utilities. The high end is the large rural systems, with long lines serving few homes per mile, though that reading is ours, not the Department’s. You cannot shop between them: your address sets the utility, so the list matters most if you are buying a house or moving.

Small utilities, large increases

A low rate on that list is not a safe rate. A small utility has few customers to absorb one failure, and 2026 showed what that looks like.

• Swanton filed for 30.28% after a failed hydroelectric dam component forced it to buy outside power. The rise took effect on 1 May while the case continues, and customers asked regulators to phase it in over three years.
• Hyde Park added about 20% in January and sought 14.92% more from June, roughly 35% within a year. About $4.5 million of operating debt built up after years of losses, and the Commission opened an investigation. Reporting found no sign of fraud.
• Jacksonville filed for about 18%, after rates had already climbed 55% over three years.
• Barton filed for about 14%.

We could not confirm final orders in these cases. Elsewhere you may notice a repeating number. Burlington’s October rise and Vermont Electric’s January rise were both 2.99%, because co-ops and municipal utilities can use a lighter process for increases of up to 3% in 12 months. The cap went from 2% to 3% in 2024. Washington Electric took no increase in 2026, and its manager told lawmakers 2027 might also pass without one.

Across all utilities, Seven Days counted 90 rate requests since 2010, more than half of them in the last four years.

What regulators cut from GMP’s request

GMP asked for 7.5%, later revised to 7.06%. In its order of 28 August 2026 the Public Utility Commission set a path to about 5.5%, and GMP’s final figure was 5.51%. The Commission found most of the request was largely outside GMP’s control: regional transmission and power supply alone were worth 3.32%, and inflation about 2%.

The cut came from spending. GMP sought about $341 million over four years to bury and harden lines. The Commission allowed $113.2 million, after the Department of Public Service argued customers could not absorb that much at once, and set the return on equity at 9.04%. It received 52 written comments, all but one opposed, and said they had considerable influence on the outcome.

That is GMP’s case for spending. It says about 190 miles of buried or reinforced line have cut high-wind outages on those sections by 95%. The Department’s reply was about timing and affordability, and it pointed out that utilities earn their return on this kind of investment, not on selling power.

What to watch next: the adjustment line can move each quarter, and the 1.87% earnings share is due to end after March 2027. A Public Service commissioner estimated last year that bills would climb 25% by 2030.

Above the US every year, but steadier than its region

Vermont has been above the national price in every year since 2010. The latest 12 months average 23.90¢, ranking 11th of 51, against 18.04¢ nationally. That is 54% above the 15.57¢ of 2010, the middle of the pack for rises since then, at 25th.

The Northeast is where it stands out. The Department points out that Vermont’s utilities still own their supply role and buy through long-term contracts, which held prices steadier than in states that were exposed to the market spike. The cost arrives later, as contracts renew. The peak here was 25.16¢ in November 2024, and the yearly price has risen about a cent a year since 2023.

Where the power comes from, and what that costs

On physical deliveries in 2024, about 72% of Vermont’s electricity was renewable and another 19% was nuclear, so 91% was carbon-free, according to the Department.

Act 179 of 2024 raised the renewable requirement to 100% by 2035 at the latest, depending on the utility, and lifted in-state new generation to about 42 to 50 megawatts a year. The Department lists it among the pressures on rates, with storm restoration and regional transmission. New England gas plants generally set wholesale prices, and a new regional market for reserves cost Vermont an estimated $15 million to $20 million in 2025.

January is the peak, and electric heat raises the stakes

A Vermont home uses 7,085 kWh a year, ranking 45th of 51, far below the 10,496 kWh US average. That keeps the yearly bill of $1,693 at 33rd despite the price.

January reached 790 kWh and $184, against 471 kWh and $112 in September. One customer who electrified told regulators that such households now have no alternative when rates rise. Researchers put about a tenth of the rise in the typical bill since 2019 down to higher use.

When GMP’s time-of-use rate pays

Rate 11 costs 35.949¢ in peak hours and 15.322¢ off-peak, with a higher daily charge of $0.876. Peak is eight consecutive hours between 1pm and 9pm, Monday to Friday. Weekends and all other hours are off-peak. Rate 1 is the flat alternative.

We worked out the break-even. At 600 kWh a month, Rate 11 wins if under about 30% of your use falls in peak hours. At 1,000 kWh the line is about 32%. Peak hours are 24% of the week, so a home running evenly would come out ahead, but evening cooking, laundry and heating can push a home past it. An electric car or water heater on a timer is what makes this rate work.

Rate 11 has a one-year term, so check your hourly usage first. Very heavy users may have no choice: Rate 1 is closed to locations above an average of 7,600 kWh across four billing months, which moves them to Rate 11.

Discounts and the winter shutoff rules

GMP’s Energy Assistance Program takes 25% off the daily charge and energy rate, down to $0.495 and 16.979¢, for households at or below 185% of the federal poverty level. On a 600 kWh bill that saves about $39 before the adjustment line. You apply through the Department for Children and Families at 1-800-775-0516 and recertify each year, and enrolled customers may get past-due balances forgiven.

Burlington Electric’s version is 12.5% at the same income limit; call 802-865-7300. Ask your utility if it is another one, because programs differ.

Winter disconnection

Under Commission Rule 3.300, from 1 November to 31 March a utility must try to reach you by phone or message within 96 hours of a planned shutoff, and again within 24 hours of a remote one. It cannot disconnect if temperatures are forecast to fall below 10°F in the following 48 hours. If anyone in the home is 62 or older, that limit becomes 32°F, but you must tell the utility in writing first.

A physician’s certificate of a serious health hazard also stops a disconnection, for up to two 30-day periods. H.753, which would add heat-wave limits and more protections, passed the House and went to Senate Finance. We found no record of it becoming law.

Price your own usage

If you are with GMP, add 7.63% to your charges and the efficiency charge, because the calculator’s default price is a federal average.

Lowest in New England, by a wide margin

Across the border: New Hampshire 26.95¢, New York 28.60¢, Massachusetts 30.39¢.

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

GMP says its rates are second-lowest among New England’s utilities, and the state’s position in this table fits. It is still well above the national price.

Sources, method and open questions

We read GMP’s tariff, the Commission’s final order, GMP’s adjustment filing, and the Department’s utility table directly, and built each bill from those. We rebuilt GMP’s notice figure to test our method.

Still unconfirmed on 6 November 2026: final orders for Swanton, Hyde Park, Jacksonville and Barton, the Commission’s ruling on the October adjustment (Case 26-1591-TF), and any 2027 filing from the co-ops. We have dated checks booked for each of these.

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.

• Vermont, 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 (November 2026): first published.