SWEPCO (Southwestern Electric Power Company) commercial electricity rates in Arkansas

• Average commercial price, 20259.91¢per kWh, all commercial customers
• vs Arkansas average−7.9%state commercial average 10.76¢
• Commercial customers19,0392nd largest of 28 in Arkansas
• Average use5,636 kWha month per commercial customer
• Average bill$559a month per commercial customer
• Since 2015+40%from 7.07¢ per kWh
• Outages212 mina year per customer · US average 124

SWEPCO (Southwestern Electric Power Company) is an investor-owned utility serving 14 counties in Arkansas. Among the 28 Arkansas utilities in EIA’s 2025 sales data with 500 or more commercial customers, it is the 2nd largest, with about 9.1% of the state’s commercial customers. EIA lists it as Southwestern Electric Power Co.

SWEPCO commercial electricity prices, 2015 to 2025

In 2015 SWEPCO billed its commercial customers an average of 7.07¢ per kWh. In 2025 the figure was 9.91¢, so it rose 40% over 10 years. The average for all commercial customers in Arkansas rose 29% over the same period. The highest year was 2021, at 12.50¢. Between 2024 and 2025 it rose 8.7%.

Average use and average bill are the utility’s commercial sales and revenue divided by its commercial customers and by twelve. The bill is an all-in figure: energy, delivery, demand and fixed charges together. A few very large customers pull both averages up, so most businesses use and pay less than the average.

Residential, commercial and industrial prices at SWEPCO

In 2025 the average commercial price at SWEPCO was 18% below the residential figure and 29% above the industrial one. Larger customers take power at a higher voltage and use it more steadily, so at most utilities the average falls from residential to commercial to industrial. Which class an account falls in is the utility’s decision, and the line between commercial and industrial is drawn differently from one utility to the next.

How SWEPCO’s commercial rates are set

SWEPCO is investor-owned, so its rates are set in cases before the Arkansas Public Service Commission and published in a tariff, which is a public document. A commercial account is billed on a rate schedule, chosen by the size of the account and the voltage it takes power at, and a schedule usually combines a fixed monthly charge, a charge per kWh and, above a certain size, a demand charge on the highest rate of draw in the month. The schedule code is printed on the bill. There is no competitive supply market for ordinary commercial accounts in Arkansas, so the levers are the schedule, the peak and the amount used.

Meters, time-varying rates and net metering at SWEPCO

EIA counts 19,327 commercial meters at SWEPCO in 2025, and 18,866 of them (98%) are advanced meters (AMI), which record use at least hourly and report it to the utility at least daily. Of the rest, 287 are automated-reading (AMR) meters, which send a reading to the utility for billing only, and 174 are standard meters. An advanced meter is what makes interval data possible, and interval data is what shows when a building’s peak demand happens.

At SWEPCO, 18,958 commercial customers were on a time-varying rate in 2025, about 100% of its commercial customers. A time-varying rate charges more in some hours than in others, so when a business uses power matters as well as how much. The kinds SWEPCO reports offering commercial customers are time-of-use pricing.

EIA records 68 commercial net-metered generating systems at SWEPCO in 2025, with 21.9 MW of capacity between them: about 3.6 for every 1,000 commercial customers. Net metering credits a customer for power its own system sends to the grid; the terms are in the utility’s tariff.

How reliable is SWEPCO’s electric service?

SWEPCO customers went without power for an average of 212 minutes in 2025, excluding major storms, with about 1.65 interruptions per customer. The average across U.S. utilities reporting the same way is 124 minutes. With major storms counted the figure was 428 minutes. These are averages over every customer of every class, so they describe the system and not any one street.

Where SWEPCO serves

EIA records SWEPCO serving customers in 14 Arkansas counties: Benton, Carroll, Hempstead, Howard, Lafayette, Little River, Logan, Miller, Pike, Polk, Scott, Sebastian, Sevier, Washington. A county can be shared between utilities, so this does not tell you who serves a given address. The utility that serves an address is the one named on its bill.

EIA lists the Southwest Power Pool as its balancing authority. SPP is one of the organised wholesale markets, which run the grid and the wholesale power market across their area.

Other utilities in Arkansas

The average each billed its commercial customers in 2025. The Arkansas page has the state’s own figures and every utility with 500 or more commercial customers.

• Entergy Arkansas (10.58¢)
• OG&E (10.28¢)

What these figures can and cannot tell you

• They are averages over every commercial customer. A utility whose commercial customers are mostly large averages fewer cents per kWh than one serving mostly small shops, so a lower figure can mean larger customers and not a lower rate.
• They are not a rate schedule. None of these figures is a charge printed in SWEPCO’s tariff, and nothing here works out a bill from one. The tariff index lists the utilities whose filed schedules are quoted on this site.
• They are annual and final. EIA publishes utility figures once a year. The Arkansas page carries the state’s trailing 12 months, which is more recent and still preliminary.

For one building, the cost estimator gives a range by building type, size and state, and price by utility sets every utility side by side. Commercial vs residential vs industrial compares the classes in every state.

Data: every year of these figures, for this utility and every other with a page, is in one CSV, free to use with credit to the U.S. Energy Information Administration and this site. To cite this page: SWEPCO commercial electricity rates, CommercialElectricityRates.com, from EIA Form EIA-861 final 2025 data.

Common questions about SWEPCO

What is the average commercial electricity rate at SWEPCO?

SWEPCO billed its commercial customers in Arkansas an average of 9.91¢ per kWh in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 7.9% below the Arkansas commercial average of 10.76¢. It is the utility’s commercial revenue divided by its commercial sales, so it describes the whole class and is not the rate on any one schedule.

How much is the average commercial electric bill at SWEPCO?

About $559 a month in 2025, on average use of about 5,636 kWh a month. That is SWEPCO’s commercial revenue divided by its 19,039 commercial customers. A few very large accounts pull the average up, so most businesses pay less than this.

Have SWEPCO’s commercial electricity rates gone up?

The average SWEPCO billed commercial customers rose 40% between 2015 and 2025, from 7.07¢ to 9.91¢ per kWh. The Arkansas commercial average rose 29% over the same period.

How reliable is SWEPCO’s electric service?

SWEPCO customers averaged 212 minutes without power in 2025, excluding major storms, against a 124-minute average for U.S. utilities reporting the same way (EIA).

Does SWEPCO use smart meters for businesses?

EIA counts 18,866 advanced (AMI) meters among SWEPCO’s 19,327 commercial meters in 2025, which is 98%. An advanced meter records use at least hourly, which is what makes interval data and time-varying rates possible.

Is this the rate my business will pay SWEPCO?

No. It is an average over every commercial customer, from a corner shop to a campus. What one business pays depends on its rate schedule, how much it uses and how hard it draws at its peak. The schedule code is printed on the bill, and the schedule itself is in SWEPCO’s tariff.