About

HomeEnergyCost works out what home energy decisions actually cost, using real local energy prices rather than asking you to type in numbers you do not know.

The problem this solves

Most energy calculators open by asking what you pay per kilowatt hour. Almost nobody knows. The ones that do not ask tend to assume a national average, which is wrong nearly everywhere — residential electricity runs from roughly 11 cents per kWh in some states to over 40 in others. An answer built on the wrong price is worse than no answer, because it looks precise.

So we look the price up for you. Enter a ZIP code and the figures used are the current ones for that state.

Where the numbers come from

• Energy prices — the US Energy Information Administration, refreshed monthly. EIA lags by about two months, which we think is the right trade: a two-month-old official figure beats a current guess.
• Solar production — NREL’s PVWatts, modelled from real weather station data.
• ZIP code locations — the US Census Bureau gazetteer, about 33,600 ZIPs.

You can see every price we hold on the energy rates by state pages. Nothing is hidden behind the calculator.

What this is not

These are estimates, not quotes. They do not know your insulation, your ductwork, your roof, or what a contractor in your town charges. They are meant to tell you whether a decision is worth pursuing — not what it will cost to the dollar. Get a quote before you spend money.

We do not sell your details to contractors, because we do not collect them. See the privacy policy.

Corrections

If a number here looks wrong, we would rather know. Write to homeenergycost@gmail.com.