Alabama (AL) electricity and natural gas rates
Electricity
16.40¢
per kWh
Natural gas
$2.43
per therm
Gas and electricity in the same unit
A therm is 29.3 kilowatt hours of energy, so Alabama's gas works out at 8.28¢ per kWh against 16.40¢ for electricity.
That compares the energy you buy, not the heat you get. A furnace throws away a fifth of every therm up the flue, while a heat pump delivers two to three times the heat in a kilowatt hour — so the cheaper unit here is not automatically the cheaper way to heat a house.
Residential sector, US Energy Information Administration, 2026-07. Updated monthly.
How Alabama compares
At 16.40¢ per kWh, Alabama is below the national average of 19.26¢, making it the 28th cheapest of the 51 states we track.
What a typical Alabama household uses
Electricity a month
1,125 kWh
Bill a month
$185
Households in Alabama use 31% more electricity than the national average and pay 23% more than average. Cheap power absorbs most of that: the meter turns faster here, but at 16.40¢ each unit costs less than it does nationally. Cooling explains most of it: Alabama runs about 2,000 cooling degree days a year against 2,600 heating ones, so summer, not winter, sets the bill.
More on this: the average electric bill in Alabama, including how far it swings between seasons.
Averaged over twelve months across 2,455,894 residential accounts in Alabama. Source: EIA.
What this means for heating
Alabama sees around 45 freezing nights a year. Whether a heat pump beats a furnace here depends on the gap between those two prices above — not on the equipment.
Run the numbers for your ZIPOther states
More for Alabama
Everything in Alabama
All five figures at once
Average electric bill in Alabama
What households pay
Cost to run AC in Alabama
Per hour and per year
Cost to heat a home in Alabama
Gas vs heat pump
Heat pump cost in Alabama
To install, and vs a furnace
Furnace replacement cost in Alabama
What a new one costs
Solar payback in Alabama
Whether panels pay off