“It was the best of energy policies; it was the worst of energy policies” – Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. (Apocryphal)
Higher electricity prices and a lack of cheap energy are in the news. Even before the start of the Iran war, consumers over the winter of 2025-2026 experienced some of the highest energy prices on record, especially electricity consumers in the Northeast and New England.
A recent report by the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, America’s largest voluntary membership organization for state legislators, shows the problem lies in local politics, not supply and demand. When it comes to electricity prices, there are two types of American states: those that manipulate electricity markets to the detriment of their citizens, and those that do not.
In 2024, the most recent year with reliable data, the average retail price of electricity nationwide was 13.69 cents per kilowatt-hour. Thirty-seven states average below that level, while the remaining 13 states are ahead in a race that no one should want to win.
Since 2021, ALEC has ranked the states in affordability from 1st to 50th.
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