Rhode Island Energy (Narragansett Electric) commercial electricity rates

• Average commercial price, 202526.82¢per kWh, customers on bundled service
• vs Rhode Island average+15%state commercial average 23.40¢
• Commercial customers63,566largest of 2 in Rhode Island
• Average use1,715 kWha month per commercial customer
• Average bill$460a month per commercial customer
• Since 2015+52%from 17.66¢ per kWh
• Outages60 mina year per customer · US average 124

Rhode Island Energy (Narragansett Electric) is an investor-owned utility serving 5 counties in Rhode Island. Among the 2 Rhode Island utilities in EIA’s 2025 sales data with 500 or more commercial customers, it is the largest, with about 99% of the state’s commercial customers. EIA lists it as The Narragansett Electric Co.

Rhode Island Energy commercial electricity prices, 2015 to 2025

In 2015 Rhode Island Energy billed its commercial customers on bundled service an average of 17.66¢ per kWh. In 2025 the figure was 26.82¢, so it rose 52% over 10 years. The average for all commercial customers in Rhode Island rose 48% over the same period. The latest year, 2025, is the highest of the 11 on record here. Between 2024 and 2025 it rose 16%.

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.

Rhode Island Energy customers who buy their energy from a supplier

In 2025, 79% of the commercial kWh Rhode Island Energy delivered went to customers buying their energy from a competitive supplier, and 43% of its commercial customers did so. The share by kWh is the larger because the businesses that shop tend to be the larger ones. Rhode Island Energy bills those customers for delivery only, at an average of 11.61¢ per kWh, which is the part of a bill that no supplier can change.

Residential, commercial and industrial prices at Rhode Island Energy

In 2025 the average commercial price at Rhode Island Energy was 8.9% below the residential figure and 2.8% 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.

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

How Rhode Island Energy’s commercial rates are set

Rhode Island Energy is investor-owned, so its rates are set in cases before the Rhode Island Public Utilities 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. What a business in Rhode Island can and cannot choose is on the Rhode Island page.

Meters, time-varying rates and net metering at Rhode Island Energy

EIA counts 63,566 commercial meters at Rhode Island Energy in 2025, and 20,056 of them (32%) are advanced meters (AMI), which record use at least hourly and report it to the utility at least daily. Of the rest, 39,108 are automated-reading (AMR) meters, which send a reading to the utility for billing only, and 4,402 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.

EIA records 669 commercial net-metered generating systems at Rhode Island Energy in 2025, with 496 MW of capacity between them: about 11 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 Rhode Island Energy’s electric service?

Rhode Island Energy customers went without power for an average of 60 minutes in 2025, excluding major storms, with about 0.73 interruptions per customer. The average across U.S. utilities reporting the same way is 124 minutes. With major storms counted the figure was 183 minutes. These are averages over every customer of every class, so they describe the system and not any one street.

Where Rhode Island Energy serves

EIA records Rhode Island Energy serving customers in 5 Rhode Island counties: Bristol, Kent, Newport, Providence, 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 ISO New England as its balancing authority. ISO New England is one of the organised wholesale markets, which run the grid and the wholesale power market across their area.

Other utilities in Rhode Island

No other Rhode Island utility has a page of its own here. The Rhode Island page lists every utility EIA records in the state with 500 or more commercial customers.

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 Rhode Island Energy’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 Rhode Island 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: Rhode Island Energy commercial electricity rates, CommercialElectricityRates.com, from EIA Form EIA-861 final 2025 data.

Common questions about Rhode Island Energy

What is the average commercial electricity rate at Rhode Island Energy?

Rhode Island Energy billed its commercial customers on bundled service in Rhode Island an average of 26.82¢ per kWh in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 15% above the Rhode Island commercial average of 23.40¢. 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 Rhode Island Energy?

About $460 a month in 2025, on average use of about 1,715 kWh a month. That is Rhode Island Energy’s commercial revenue divided by its 35,997 commercial customers. A few very large accounts pull the average up, so most businesses pay less than this.

Have Rhode Island Energy’s commercial electricity rates gone up?

The average Rhode Island Energy billed commercial customers rose 52% between 2015 and 2025, from 17.66¢ to 26.82¢ per kWh. The Rhode Island commercial average rose 48% over the same period.

How reliable is Rhode Island Energy’s electric service?

Rhode Island Energy customers averaged 60 minutes without power in 2025, excluding major storms, against a 124-minute average for U.S. utilities reporting the same way (EIA).

Does Rhode Island Energy use smart meters for businesses?

EIA counts 20,056 advanced (AMI) meters among Rhode Island Energy’s 63,566 commercial meters in 2025, which is 32%. 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 Rhode Island Energy?

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 Rhode Island Energy’s tariff.