Electricity Rate in Tennessee (2026): 14.07c/kWh Average
The EIA residential electricity price in Tennessee is 14.07 cents per kWh as of June 2026, 4.27c below the US average of 18.34c/kWh. The Tennessee commercial rate is 13.94c/kWh and the industrial rate is 6.87c/kWh (EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A).
Tennessee Electricity Rate: What You Need to Know
Tennessee electricity averages 14.07 cents per kWh for residential customers as of June 2026, according to the EIA Electric Power Monthly. This is 4.27c below the US average of 18.34c/kWh. The average monthly bill for Tennessee households is $159 based on typical usage of 1205 kWh.
Tennessee has some of the cheaper electricity in the country - 14.07c/kWh (June 2026), below the US average - but relatively high bills because households use a lot of it. The state has a one-of-a-kind structure: essentially all of Tennessee's power comes from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the federal corporation created in 1933, which generates and transmits the electricity and sells it wholesale to roughly 150 local power companies - municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives such as Nashville Electric Service, Memphis Light Gas and Water, and Knoxville Utilities Board - that handle local distribution. There is no investor-owned utility and no residential retail choice: every local power company buys from TVA at the same wholesale rate and adds its own distribution margin, so rate differences between towns are small. TVA uses a seasonal rate structure, with higher energy charges in summer (June-September) and winter (December-March) than in the transition months. Tennessee's high average usage of 1,205 kWh per month - driven by widespread electric heating plus summer air conditioning - pushes the typical monthly bill to about $159 despite the low per-kWh price. TVA's generation mix is led by nuclear and natural gas, with significant hydro and a declining coal share.
Generation mix: Natural gas 30%, nuclear 35%, hydro 20%, coal 10%. The fuel mix is a primary driver of electricity rates - states with abundant hydro or nuclear tend to have lower rates, while states dependent on imported petroleum (Hawaii) or natural gas pay more.
Year-over-year change: Tennessee rates rose 1.8% year-over-year as of June 2026. This compares to the US average increase of 5% over the same period.
Regulated: You Cannot Switch Electricity Suppliers
TVA (via local co-ops and municipal utilities) operates as the regulated utility in Tennessee. Retail electricity choice is not available for residential customers. Options for reducing your bill include: time-of-use rate optimization, energy efficiency upgrades, and rooftop solar.
Your Tennessee Electricity Bill Components
State pre-selected in our full bill calculator with TOU and commercial modes.
Open Bill Calculator ->Electric Utilities in Tennessee: 88 Listed (2024 EIA-861)
EIA's Form 861 census records 88 entities with 2024 retail electricity sales in Tennessee: 88 distribution utilities filing the full form, 0 small utilities filing the short form (EIA-861S). By ownership: 60 municipal, 25 cooperative, 2 investor owned, 1 federal. The state-wide average realised residential price in 2024 was 12.42 cents per kWh across 3,166,103 residential customers and 43,827,503 MWh of sales; EIA's latest monthly figure is 14.07c (June 2026). The largest utility by residential accounts served (bundled plus delivery-only) is Nashville Electric Service with 417,640 (13.47c per kWh, 11.7% of state residential sales by MWh). 87 of the 88 distribution utilities have a detail page; the rest are listed here only.
| # | Utility | Ownership | Res. accounts | Residential | Commercial | Counties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nashville Electric Service | Municipal | 417,640 | 13.47c | 12.03c | 7 |
| 2 | City of Memphis (TN) | Municipal | 380,286 | 12.16c | 12.01c | 1 |
| 3 | Middle Tennessee E M C | Cooperative | 307,370 | 11.76c | 11.45c | 8 |
| 4 | Knoxville Utilities Board | Municipal | 193,707 | 12.54c | 11.91c | 7 |
| 5 | City of Chattanooga (TN)also GA | Municipal | 164,417 | 12.32c | 11.85c | 6 |
| 6 | Volunteer Electric Coop | Cooperative | 104,387 | 12.19c | 12.65c | 15 |
| 7 | Cumberland Elec Member Corp | Cooperative | 100,585 | 12.99c | 12.94c | 6 |
| 8 | City of Clarksville (TN) | Municipal | 75,953 | 12.77c | 12.11c | 1 |
| 9 | Johnson City (TN) | Municipal | 72,205 | 12.41c | 11.37c | 4 |
| 10 | Duck River Elec Member Corp | Cooperative | 71,342 | 12.50c | 13.36c | 14 |
| 11 | City of Lenoir (TN) | Municipal | 62,455 | 11.95c | 11.75c | 3 |
| 12 | Upper Cumberland E M C | Cooperative | 45,560 | 12.77c | 13.67c | 9 |
| 13 | Southwest Tennessee E M C | Cooperative | 43,750 | 12.90c | 14.35c | 9 |
| 14 | Appalachian Electric Coop | Cooperative | 43,709 | 12.93c | 12.93c | 4 |
| 15 | Kingsport Power Co | Investor Owned | 43,159 | 12.84c | 13.81c | 3 |
| 16 | Sevier County Electric System | Municipal | 35,626 | 11.33c | 11.65c | 2 |
| 17 | Sequachee Valley Electric Coop | Cooperative | 33,206 | 12.97c | 12.37c | 8 |
| 18 | City of Greeneville (TN) | Municipal | 32,388 | 11.90c | 12.58c | 1 |
| 19 | City of Jackson (TN) | Municipal | 31,856 | 11.97c | 11.58c | 1 |
| 20 | Columbia Power System (TN) | Municipal | 31,166 | 12.00c | 11.47c | 2 |
| 21 | City of Dickson | Municipal | 30,808 | 11.65c | 12.53c | 5 |
| 22 | Fort Loudoun Electric Coop | Cooperative | 30,527 | 12.11c | 13.53c | 3 |
| 23 | Meriwether Lewis Electric Coop | Cooperative | 30,319 | 13.68c | 14.68c | 5 |
| 24 | Caney Fork Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 29,631 | 12.89c | 15.70c | 8 |
| 25 | City of Bristol (TN) | Municipal | 29,622 | 10.81c | 12.16c | 1 |
| 26 | Gibson Electric Members Corpalso KY | Cooperative | 29,331 | 13.00c | 12.83c | 9 |
| 27 | City of Cleveland (TN) | Municipal | 29,331 | 12.53c | 11.88c | 1 |
| 28 | City of Alcoa Utilities | Municipal | 28,183 | 12.21c | 11.54c | 1 |
| 29 | City of Clinton (TN) | Municipal | 26,230 | 12.99c | 13.23c | 6 |
| 30 | Holston Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 25,773 | 13.05c | 14.36c | 2 |
| 31 | Tri-County Elec Member Corp (TN)also KY | Cooperative | 24,824 | 12.33c | 12.93c | 7 |
| 32 | City of Elizabethton (TN) | Municipal | 23,344 | 11.82c | 11.62c | 4 |
| 33 | City of Gallatin (TN) | Municipal | 23,204 | 11.78c | 10.56c | 1 |
| 34 | Powell Valley Electric Coopalso VA | Cooperative | 21,147 | 11.49c | 12.66c | 5 |
| 35 | Maryville Utilities | Municipal | 19,971 | 11.28c | 11.72c | 1 |
| 36 | City of LaFollette | Municipal | 19,934 | 13.51c | 11.43c | 3 |
| 37 | City of Newport (TN) | Municipal | 19,859 | 13.83c | 14.03c | 3 |
| 38 | Chickasaw Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 19,576 | 11.00c | 11.27c | 3 |
| 39 | City of Lawrenceburg | Municipal | 18,076 | 12.22c | 14.10c | 1 |
| 40 | City of Lexington (TN) | Municipal | 17,961 | 12.04c | 12.90c | 4 |
| 41 | Tennessee Valley Electric Coop | Cooperative | 16,804 | 12.41c | 12.69c | 2 |
| 42 | City of Fayetteville | Municipal | 16,667 | 11.93c | 13.18c | 4 |
| 43 | Pickwick Electric Coop | Cooperative | 16,609 | 12.67c | 14.35c | 4 |
| 44 | City of Paris (TN) | Municipal | 16,263 | 11.55c | 12.04c | 1 |
| 45 | City of Cookeville (TN) | Municipal | 15,946 | 11.29c | 10.91c | 1 |
| 46 | City of Oak Ridge | Municipal | 15,497 | 12.47c | 12.02c | 1 |
| 47 | Weakley County Mun Elec Sys | Municipal | 15,315 | 11.29c | 11.76c | 3 |
| 48 | Plateau Electric Cooperative | Cooperative | 14,331 | 13.21c | 13.11c | 2 |
| 49 | City of Morristown (TN) | Municipal | 13,459 | 12.74c | 11.42c | 1 |
| 50 | Loudon Utilities Board | Municipal | 12,698 | 11.45c | 11.49c | 1 |
| 51 | Mountain Electric Coop, Incalso NC | Cooperative | 12,539 | 12.34c | 13.91c | 3 |
| 52 | City of Pulaski (TN) | Municipal | 12,432 | 13.31c | 13.42c | 2 |
| 53 | Carroll County (TN) | Municipal | 12,344 | 11.92c | 12.13c | 3 |
| 54 | City of Rockwood (TN) | Municipal | 12,042 | 12.71c | 13.90c | 1 |
| 55 | Athens Utility Board | Municipal | 11,651 | 11.77c | 12.82c | 1 |
| 56 | City of Shelbyville (TN) | Municipal | 9,877 | 11.33c | 11.57c | 1 |
| 57 | City of Dyersburg | Municipal | 9,475 | 11.15c | 11.51c | 1 |
| 58 | City of Harriman (TN) | Municipal | 9,335 | 13.44c | 14.83c | 2 |
| 59 | Tullahoma Board-Public Utils | Municipal | 9,278 | 11.18c | 11.28c | 3 |
| 60 | City of Dayton (TN) | Municipal | 9,053 | 11.98c | 12.77c | 2 |
| 61 | Bolivar Energy Authority | Municipal | 8,929 | 13.50c | 14.56c | 2 |
| 62 | Benton County | Municipal | 8,775 | 13.88c | 15.18c | 1 |
| 63 | Forked Deer Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 8,345 | 14.33c | 19.66c | 4 |
| 64 | City of Springfield (TN) | Municipal | 7,675 | 11.47c | 9.50c | 1 |
| 65 | Town of Erwin (TN) | Municipal | 7,618 | 12.23c | 13.17c | 3 |
| 66 | City of Sweetwater | Municipal | 7,534 | 11.62c | 12.14c | 1 |
| 67 | City of Milan (TN) | Municipal | 6,902 | 12.09c | 12.21c | 3 |
| 68 | McMinnville Electric System | Municipal | 6,646 | 11.83c | 12.42c | 1 |
| 69 | City of Winchester (TN) | Municipal | 5,292 | 11.81c | 12.02c | 1 |
| 70 | City of Union City | Municipal | 5,203 | 11.31c | 11.84c | 1 |
| 71 | City of Ripley (TN) | Municipal | 5,106 | 12.35c | 13.14c | 1 |
| 72 | City of Lewisburg (TN) | Municipal | 4,981 | 11.22c | 11.73c | 1 |
| 73 | City of Etowah | Municipal | 4,443 | 13.61c | 14.48c | 1 |
| 74 | City of Brownsville | Municipal | 4,067 | 11.43c | 12.19c | 1 |
| 75 | City of Covington (TN) | Municipal | 3,727 | 11.11c | 11.13c | 1 |
| 76 | City of Humboldt | Municipal | 3,529 | 11.36c | 11.15c | 1 |
| 77 | City of Mt Pleasant (TN) | Municipal | 3,524 | 13.06c | 13.84c | 2 |
| 78 | Tri-State Electric Member Corpalso GA, NC | Cooperative | 2,812 | 14.03c | 15.11c | 1 |
| 79 | City of Smithville (TN) | Municipal | 2,408 | 12.11c | 12.52c | 1 |
| 80 | City of Sparta | Municipal | 2,258 | 11.94c | 11.90c | 1 |
| 81 | City of Trenton (TN) | Municipal | 1,956 | 12.88c | 12.44c | 1 |
| 82 | City of Jellicoalso KY | Municipal | 1,620 | 13.06c | 14.16c | 1 |
| 83 | City of Newbern | Municipal | 1,495 | 10.34c | 10.88c | 1 |
| 84 | French Broad Elec Member Corpalso NC | Cooperative | 994 | 14.91c | 14.41c | 2 |
| 85 | South Kentucky Rural E C Calso KY | Cooperative | 152 | 13.77c | 13.86c | 2 |
| 86 | Cumberland Valley Electric, Inc.also KY | Cooperative | 78 | 14.31c | n/a | 2 |
| 87 | Entergy Arkansas LLCalso AR | Investor Owned | 1 | 11.94c | 18.33c | 1 |
| 88 | Tennessee Valley Authorityalso AL, KY, MS, NC | Federal | 0 | n/a | 6.86c | - |
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 Annual, 2024 final data (public domain), retrieved 28 August 2026; prices are average realised revenue per kWh, not tariffs. Final 2024 file f8612024.zip (released 3 December 2025) from the EIA-861 detailed data files. Preliminary 2025 figures come from the early-release file f8612025er.zip (4 August 2026), which EIA has not yet validated; they are labelled as such wherever shown and never mixed into a final figure.