Cheapest industrial power for data centers
The lowest statewide average industrial electricity rate in the U.S., the benchmark power price for siting AI data centers.
View chart data
| As of | industrial retail rate, lowest-cost state |
|---|---|
| May 31, 23:59 UTC | 4.45¢ / kWh |
About this metric
Electricity is the largest recurring input cost of an AI data center, and industrial retail rates vary several-fold between U.S. states. This chart tracks the floor: the cheapest statewide average industrial rate in the country, along with which state currently holds it.
Rates are monthly statewide average retail prices to ultimate industrial customers as reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in cents per kilowatt-hour. A statewide industrial average is not a negotiated data-center tariff, but it is the consistent public benchmark siting teams start from, published on the same basis for all fifty states.
A few tenths of a cent per kilowatt-hour compounds into tens of millions of dollars a year at gigawatt scale, which is why capacity announcements cluster in cheap-power states. Read this line against the planned-capacity chart: power price is the strongest single predictor of where the next wave of facilities lands.