SMECO (Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative) commercial electricity rates in Maryland

• Average commercial price, 202514.17¢per kWh, customers on bundled service
• vs Maryland average−3.7%state commercial average 14.72¢
• Commercial customers16,4865th largest of 8 in Maryland
• Average use6,311 kWha month per commercial customer
• Average bill$894a month per commercial customer
• Since 2015+35%from 10.52¢ per kWh
• Outages118 mina year per customer · US average 124

SMECO (Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative) is an electric cooperative serving 4 counties in Maryland. Among the 8 Maryland utilities in EIA’s 2025 sales data with 500 or more commercial customers, it is the 5th largest, with about 6.3% of the state’s commercial customers. EIA lists it as Southern Maryland Elec Coop Inc.

SMECO commercial electricity prices, 2015 to 2025

In 2015 SMECO billed its commercial customers on bundled service an average of 10.52¢ per kWh. In 2025 the figure was 14.17¢, so it rose 35% over 10 years. The average for all commercial customers in Maryland rose 34% over the same period. The latest year, 2025, is the highest of the 11 on record here. Between 2024 and 2025 it rose 12%.

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.

SMECO customers who buy their energy from a supplier

In 2025, 3% of the commercial kWh SMECO delivered went to customers buying their energy from a competitive supplier, and 2% of its commercial customers did so. The share by kWh is the larger because the businesses that shop tend to be the larger ones. SMECO bills those customers for delivery only, at an average of 4.31¢ per kWh, which is the part of a bill that no supplier can change.

Residential, commercial and industrial prices at SMECO

In 2025 the average commercial price at SMECO was 14% below the residential figure. 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.

The customers who buy their energy from a supplier are counted separately, and SMECO bills them for delivery alone:

How SMECO’s commercial rates are set

SMECO is a cooperative, owned by the members it serves. Its board sets its rates, and in some states the state commission reviews them as well. 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. What a business in Maryland can and cannot choose is on the Maryland page.

Meters, time-varying rates and net metering at SMECO

EIA counts 16,677 commercial meters at SMECO in 2025, and 16,584 of them (99%) are advanced meters (AMI), which record use at least hourly and report it to the utility at least daily. Of the rest, 93 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 SMECO, 45 commercial customers were on a time-varying rate in 2025, about 0.3% 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 SMECO reports offering commercial customers are time-of-use pricing.

EIA records 80 commercial net-metered generating systems at SMECO in 2025, with 5.48 MW of capacity between them: about 4.9 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 SMECO’s electric service?

SMECO customers went without power for an average of 118 minutes in 2025, excluding major storms, with about 1.26 interruptions per customer. The average across U.S. utilities reporting the same way is 124 minutes. With major storms counted the figure was 173 minutes. These are averages over every customer of every class, so they describe the system and not any one street.

Where SMECO serves

EIA records SMECO serving customers in 4 Maryland counties: Calvert, Charles, Prince Georges, St Marys. 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 PJM as its balancing authority. PJM is one of the organised wholesale markets, which run the grid and the wholesale power market across their area.

Other utilities in Maryland

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

• Baltimore Gas and Electric (18.65¢)
• Pepco (Maryland) (16.49¢)
• Potomac Edison (15.94¢)
• Delmarva Power (Maryland) (21.43¢)

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 SMECO’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 Maryland page carries the state’s trailing 12 months, which is more recent and still preliminary.
• Bundled and delivery-only are different customers. The two prices describe different parts of the bill and are never added together or averaged.

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: SMECO commercial electricity rates, CommercialElectricityRates.com, from EIA Form EIA-861 final 2025 data.

Common questions about SMECO

What is the average commercial electricity rate at SMECO?

SMECO billed its commercial customers on bundled service in Maryland an average of 14.17¢ per kWh in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 3.7% below the Maryland commercial average of 14.72¢. 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 SMECO?

About $894 a month in 2025, on average use of about 6,311 kWh a month. That is SMECO’s commercial revenue divided by its 16,145 commercial customers. A few very large accounts pull the average up, so most businesses pay less than this.

Have SMECO’s commercial electricity rates gone up?

The average SMECO billed commercial customers rose 35% between 2015 and 2025, from 10.52¢ to 14.17¢ per kWh. The Maryland commercial average rose 34% over the same period.

How reliable is SMECO’s electric service?

SMECO customers averaged 118 minutes without power in 2025, excluding major storms, against a 124-minute average for U.S. utilities reporting the same way (EIA).

Does SMECO use smart meters for businesses?

EIA counts 16,584 advanced (AMI) meters among SMECO’s 16,677 commercial meters in 2025, which is 99%. 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 SMECO?

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 SMECO’s tariff.