Electricity in Tennessee

Electricity Rates, Plans & Statistics

Electricity Coverage & Statistics in Tennessee

  • Population
    see rank
    6,910,840
  • Total Production
    see rank
    81,478,884 MWh / 11.79 MWh per capita
  • Total Consumption
    see rank
    100,213,711 MWh / 14.5 MWh per capita
  • Total Production from Renewable
    see rank
    13,308,307 MWh / 1.93 MWh per capita
  • CO2 Emissions from Consumption
    see rank
    32,020,983,357 kg / 4,633.44 kg per capita
  • Total Production from Non-Renewable
    see rank
    68,170,577 MWh / 9.86 MWh per capita
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Residential Electricity Bills & Rates in Tennessee

Tennessee residential electric rates are highest in January and the highest average bill is in December.

Historical Electricity Rates:

Price Per kWhAverage Bill$0.117/kWh$0.101/kWh$180.74/mo.$98.31/mo.
12th11.39¢Average residential price per kWh in the state of Tennessee
45th$136.46Average residential monthly electricity bill for Tennessee Residents

Energy Profile of Tennessee

MonthlyWe report production data as it is published. Due to reporting methods and timing, data from 2021 and 2020 may be incomplete. Data is released in full each fall for the previous calendar year. For clarification on any data points, please contact our team.
AnnualAnnual data for 2020 will be finalized in the fall of 2021. Until that time, some data may be incomplete. Data for 2021 is a summation of all information released to date, which may only represent a portion of the actual production that has occurred. For clarification on any data points, please contact our team.

Tennessee's Electricity Prices and Usage

The average residential electricity rate in Tennessee in 2022 is 11.39 cents per kilowatt hour, which is 18.61% less than the national average rate of 13.99 cents.. While there are 84 electricity providers who operate in Tennessee, the electricity market is regulated and residents only have one or two supplier choices determined by their home address. Producing 11.79 megawatt hours per citizen, Tennessee ranks as the 31st highest per capita producer of electricity in the US. There is a deficiency of 18734826.689999998 megawatt hours in the state due to the fact that citizens are using 22.99% more electricity than is produced. This leads to the necessity to import extra megawatt hours from outside of the state. Over the last 12 months, Tennessee has seen a 3.88% decline in the use of renewable fuels for electricity production. Customers in Tennessee deal with 1.87 electrical outages a year with outages lasting an average of 175.57 minutes.

Residential Electricity Providers in Tennessee

ProviderService TypeResidential Rate (¢)Residential Average Bill ($)Residential Sales (MWh)Residential Revenues ($)State Production (MWh)
Memphis Light, Gas and WaterBUNDLED10.79122.555,161,083556,630,319
Nashville Electric ServiceBUNDLED12.17129.434,879,987593,764,0003
Middle Tennessee ElectricBUNDLED10.54134.964,304,850453,546,000
Knoxville Utilities BoardBUNDLED11.14123.582,473,123275,421,000
EPBBUNDLED11.29125.892,080,108234,807,000
Cumberland ElectricBUNDLED11.88168.531,582,897188,085,000
Volunteer Electric CooperativeBUNDLED11.15131.561,425,329158,949,000
Duck River ElectricBUNDLED11.50154.461,086,651124,961,000
BrightRidgeBUNDLED11.64137.42985,085114,645,000
Clarksville ElectricBUNDLED11.66136.72961,152112,072,000
84 providers total

Power Plants in Tennessee

PlantCity/CountyPrimary Fuel TypeProduction (MWh)Emission (KG)Emissions/MWh (KG/MWh)Toxic Chemical ReleaseClosing Date
Watts Bar Nuclear PlantTennessee Valley Authority (100.00%)
Rhea County Nuclear 17,675,595
SequoyahTennessee Valley Authority (100.00%)
Hamilton County Nuclear 17,654,812
Cumberland (TN)Tennessee Valley Authority (100.00%)
Cumberland City Coal 10,362,081.9810,441,555,688.211,007.67Yes12/2028
AllenTennessee Valley Authority (100.00%)
Memphis Natural Gas 4,119,2141,455,206,939.61353.27Yes
Gallatin (TN)Tennessee Valley Authority (100.00%)
Sumner County Coal 4,034,797.024,090,899,835.241,013.9Yes12/2031
John SevierTennessee Valley Authority (100.00%)
Hawkins County Natural Gas 4,015,8311,520,267,850.78378.57
Lagoon CreekTennessee Valley Authority (100.00%)
Haywood County Natural Gas 3,015,1091,157,110,284.5383.77
KingstonTennessee Valley Authority (100.00%)
Roane County Coal 2,775,508.013,053,898,742.271,100.3Yes12/2027
Tennessee Eastman OperationsEastman Chemical Company (100.00%)
Kingsport Natural Gas 1,138,973416,018,266.62365.26
Bull RunTennessee Valley Authority (100.00%)
Anderson County Coal 817,760859,319,780.161,050.8212/2023
26 power plants total

Quick Facts

Tennessee released 32,020,983,356.68 kilograms of CO2 emissions from electricity production, which is the 17th highest in the nation.

At $136.46, the average monthly residential electric bill in Tennessee is 10.17% higher than the US average.

Wind produces 40,827.48 megawatt hours of electricity in Tennessee. This equals roughly 0.01 megawatt hours per person in Tennessee being produced from wind power, giving the state a rank of 39th highest in the United States in that category.

Tennessee is the 30th highest producing state of solar energy.

Over 16.33% of Tennessee's electricity generation comes from sustainable fuel types, putting Tennessee at 19th in the nation for total sustainable electricity production.

Tennessee ranks 17th for electricity consumption per capita, with residents consuming 14.5 megawatt hours per year per person.

CountyPopulationProvidersPlantsResidential Rate (¢)Residential Avg. Electric Bill
Anderson County77,1232211.76$136.75/mo
Bedford County50,237211.45$152.83/mo
Benton County15,864112.78$134.47/mo
Bledsoe County14,913311.28$128.28/mo
Blount County135,280410.62$130.64/mo
Bradley County108,620311.29$131.61/mo
Campbell County39,272411.68$124.75/mo
Cannon County14,506210.58$134.76/mo
Carroll County28,440210.47$122.78/mo
Carter County56,356310.67$112.09/mo
Cheatham County41,072311.63$147.99/mo
Chester County17,341311.69$146.63/mo
Claiborne County32,043210.82$111.43/mo
Clay County7,581211.06$134.94/mo
Cocke County35,999211.53$123.49/mo
Coffee County57,889411.42$151.25/mo
Crockett County13,911211.88$153.69/mo
Cumberland County61,145311.17$131.63/mo
Davidson County715,8842112.16$130.00/mo
DeKalb County20,080411.33$132.38/mo
Decatur County11,435110.76$112.55/mo
Dickson County54,315210.21$124.33/mo
Dyer County36,801611.76$150.29/mo
Fayette County41,990310.06$134.61/mo
Fentress County18,489111.15$131.56/mo
Franklin County42,774311.48$153.40/mo
Gibson County50,429511.46$145.74/mo
Giles County30,346411.70$138.89/mo
Grainger County23,527311.34$132.82/mo
Greene County70,152110.74$131.81/mo
Grundy County13,529311.36$129.14/mo
Hamblen County64,499311.57$136.42/mo
Hamilton County366,2073211.27$126.95/mo
Hancock County6,662110.27$103.57/mo
Hardeman County25,462311.92$138.93/mo
Hardin County26,8313111.26$123.48/mo
Hawkins County56,7215110.65$129.48/mo
Haywood County17,8645211.50$148.97/mo
Henderson County27,842310.93$121.89/mo
Henry County32,199211.65$125.49/mo
Hickman County24,925211.31$130.23/mo
Houston County8,283311.37$132.31/mo
Humphreys County18,9901111.46$131.20/mo
Jackson County11,617211.47$137.21/mo
Jefferson County54,683411.63$141.05/mo
Johnson County17,948210.59$103.29/mo
Knox County478,9713111.15$126.75/mo
Lake County7,005411.87$153.48/mo
Lauderdale County25,143311.78$149.88/mo
Lawrence County44,159110.62$125.95/mo
Lewis County12,582211.47$132.67/mo
Lincoln County35,319210.91$133.26/mo
Loudon County54,886410.64$132.75/mo
Macon County25,216111.00$134.60/mo
Madison County98,8234111.69$146.04/mo
Marion County28,8373111.35$128.77/mo
Marshall County34,318311.41$151.53/mo
Maury County100,974411.32$145.49/mo
McMinn County53,276310.90$128.42/mo
McNairy County25,8661411.14$130.86/mo
Meigs County12,758111.15$131.56/mo
Monroe County46,250410.79$139.27/mo
Montgomery County220,069311.83$163.90/mo
Moore County6,461111.50$154.46/mo
Morgan County21,035511.80$117.87/mo
Obion County30,787211.85$152.87/mo
Overton County22,511311.42$136.45/mo
Perry County8,366111.46$131.20/mo
Pickett County5,001211.21$132.51/mo
Polk County17,544211.84$126.83/mo
Putnam County79,854411.32$132.81/mo
Rhea County32,8703110.98$125.28/mo
Roane County53,4046111.42$130.52/mo
Robertson County72,803311.85$164.81/mo
Rutherford County341,4864110.67$135.12/mo
Scott County21,850111.80$111.23/mo
Sequatchie County15,826211.35$128.24/mo
Sevier County98,380410.24$115.05/mo
Shelby County929,7441210.79$122.55/mo
Smith County19,904311.44$137.14/mo
Stewart County13,6572111.86$166.26/mo
Sullivan County158,1636210.17$130.29/mo
Sumner County196,2815111.67$153.59/mo
Tipton County60,970411.93$146.56/mo
Trousdale County11,615210.94$134.64/mo
Unicoi County17,928311.73$102.84/mo
Union County19,802410.95$118.88/mo
Van Buren County6,168211.40$129.98/mo
Warren County40,953311.40$130.87/mo
Washington County133,0015210.84$133.69/mo
Wayne County16,232111.37$121.09/mo
Weakley County32,90219.93$124.30/mo
White County27,351411.39$130.75/mo
Williamson County247,726210.74$134.26/mo
Wilson County147,737310.69$134.92/mo

Power Plant Fuel Types, Emissions & Pollution Factors

Tracking emissions on a per capita basis gives us a glimpse of the emissions efficiency of a state. Tennessee averages 4,633.44 kilograms of CO2 emissions per resident from electricity use, which ranks them 27th worst in the US. At 4,633.44 kilograms per person and 6,910,840 people in the state, the state emits 32,020,983,356.68 kilograms of CO2 emissions per year. Electricity plants in the state most often use Nuclear, which makes up 43.36% of the fuel types used for electricity generation in the state. Coal and Natural Gas make up 22.41% and 17.75% of generation, respectively. There are 26 electricity generation plants in the state of Tennessee, which is the 33rd most power plants in a state in the US and translates to the 49th highest amount of plants per resident.

NUCLEAR
Nuclear
Nuclear
Nuclear
Nuclear
Nuclear
43.36%
COAL
Coal
Coal
Coal
22.41%
NATURAL GAS
Natural Gas
Natural Gas
17.75%
CONVENTIONAL HYDROELECTRIC
Conventional Hydroelectric
Conventional Hydroelectric
15.06%
BLACK LIQUOUR
Black Liquour
0.52%
OTHER
Other
0.89%

Tennessee Net Metering

Out of the 84 companies in Tennessee, only one of them have made it a point to offer net metering to their customers. The state of Tennessee has bad state level net metering legislation.

Energy Loss

The average energy loss for providers in Tennessee is 2.57%. This includes data from 81 companies, including Nashville Electric Service, Memphis Light, Gas and Water, and Middle Tennessee Electric. The United States average for energy loss is 2.76%, which earns a rank of 15th best in the US for Tennessee in this category.

Solar Taxes And Rebates

When it comes to encouraging home installs of solar, one of the best uses of government resources is tax breaks and rebates for solar installs. Tennessee offers a credit that is $1000 or less or there is no state tax. Offering no rebates for solar panel purchases, the state currently is dropping the ball for its citizens who wish to install private solar panels. Unfortunately, homeowners in the state are only offered some optional tax exemptions for what they spend on private solar panel installation. The state offers a 100% sales tax exemption to anyone who purchase private solar. This is great for people in the state.

State Level Initiatives

Whether a customer is able to easily find electricity options with renewable fuel types is at least somewhat determined by legislation at the state level. Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) encourage or require electricity suppliers to produce a percentage of their electricity using green energy. The state of Tennessee, unfortunately, has no standards in place. Additionally, there are currently no low income solar programs to encourage low income families to install solar panels.

FAQ: Common Questions About Energy in Tennessee

How much does electricity cost in Tennessee?

Anything below the Tennessee average of 11.39 cents per kilowatt hour is a good electricity rate. The rates in the state range from 9.35 cents to 12.78 cents per kilowatt hour, with New Bern Electric currently having the lowest rates.

Does Tennessee have a deregulated electricity market?

Tennessee has a regulated electricity market, rather than a deregulated market. This means that citizens in the state normally have only one or two electricity provider options to choose from due to state legislation.

Where does Tennessee get its electricity?

Nuclear is the primary fuel source used for electricity generation in Tennessee, making up 43.36% of production. Coal and Natural Gas also make up 22.41% and 17.75% respectively.

How many electric companies offer service in Tennessee?

There are 84 electricity companies serving consumers in Tennessee.

What electricity companies are in Tennessee?

What is the average electric bill in Tennessee?

The average electricity bill in the state of Tennessee in 2022 is $136 while the national average is $124.

Which electricity company is the largest provider in Tennessee?

By total revenue, Memphis Light, Gas and Water is the largest electricity company in Tennessee.

How many power plants are located within Tennessee?

Tennessee is home to 26 active electricity plants generating electricity for the state.

What is the cheapest electricity company in Tennessee?

Residential Rate RankProviderResidential Rate (¢)State Customers
1New Bern Electric9.351,818
2Chickasaw Electric Cooperative9.7621,158
3Tullahoma Utilities9.8010,982
4Brownsville Utility9.855,404
5Springfield TN Electric9.928,544
6Weakley County Municipal Electric System9.9320,576
7Covington, Tennessee Electric Utility9.944,710
8Maryville Electric9.9522,283
9Bristol TN Electric9.9834,108
10Sevier County Electric10.0158,528

Last Reviewed By: Fernando García
Published: 2021-03-16Last Updated: 2022-06-21