Palmetto Electric Cooperative commercial electricity rates in South Carolina

• Average commercial price, 202513.56¢per kWh, all commercial customers
• vs South Carolina average+21%state commercial average 11.18¢
• Commercial customers11,9907th largest of 28 in South Carolina
• Average use3,288 kWha month per commercial customer
• Average bill$446a month per commercial customer
• Since 2015+22%from 11.11¢ per kWh
• Outages38 mina year per customer · US average 124

Palmetto Electric Cooperative is an electric cooperative serving 4 counties in South Carolina. Among the 28 South Carolina utilities in EIA’s 2025 sales data with 500 or more commercial customers, it is the 7th largest, with about 2.9% of the state’s commercial customers. EIA lists it as Palmetto Electric Coop Inc.

Palmetto Electric Cooperative commercial electricity prices, 2015 to 2025

In 2015 Palmetto Electric Cooperative billed its commercial customers an average of 11.11¢ per kWh. In 2025 the figure was 13.56¢, so it rose 22% over 10 years. The average for all commercial customers in South Carolina rose 9.5% over the same period. The latest year, 2025, is the highest of the 11 on record here. Between 2024 and 2025 it rose 13%.

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 Palmetto Electric Cooperative

In 2025 the average commercial price at Palmetto Electric Cooperative was 5.8% below the residential figure and 33% 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 Palmetto Electric Cooperative’s commercial rates are set

Palmetto Electric Cooperative 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. There is no competitive supply market for ordinary commercial accounts in South Carolina, so the levers are the schedule, the peak and the amount used.

Meters, time-varying rates and net metering at Palmetto Electric Cooperative

EIA counts 11,990 commercial meters at Palmetto Electric Cooperative in 2025, and 11,990 of them (100%) are advanced meters (AMI), which record use at least hourly and report it to the utility at least daily. An advanced meter is what makes interval data possible, and interval data is what shows when a building’s peak demand happens.

At Palmetto Electric Cooperative, 211 commercial customers were on a time-varying rate in 2025, about 1.8% 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 Palmetto Electric Cooperative reports offering commercial customers are time-of-use pricing and critical peak pricing.

EIA records 17 commercial net-metered generating systems at Palmetto Electric Cooperative in 2025, with 0.69 MW of capacity between them: about 1.4 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 Palmetto Electric Cooperative’s electric service?

Palmetto Electric Cooperative customers went without power for an average of 38 minutes in 2025, excluding major storms, with about 0.69 interruptions per customer. The average across U.S. utilities reporting the same way is 124 minutes. With major storms counted the figure was 51 minutes. These are averages over every customer of every class, so they describe the system and not any one street.

Where Palmetto Electric Cooperative serves

EIA records Palmetto Electric Cooperative serving customers in 4 South Carolina counties: Allendale, Beaufort, Hampton, Jasper. 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 Santee Cooper as its balancing authority, the body that keeps supply and demand matched minute by minute across the area.

Other utilities in South Carolina

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

• Dominion Energy South Carolina (12.90¢)
• Duke Energy Carolinas (9.68¢)
• Duke Energy Progress (11.02¢)
• Santee Cooper (10.82¢)
• Berkeley Electric Cooperative (8.27¢)
• Horry Electric Cooperative (14.15¢)

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 Palmetto Electric Cooperative’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 South Carolina 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: Palmetto Electric Cooperative commercial electricity rates, CommercialElectricityRates.com, from EIA Form EIA-861 final 2025 data.

Common questions about Palmetto Electric Cooperative

What is the average commercial electricity rate at Palmetto Electric Cooperative?

Palmetto Electric Cooperative billed its commercial customers in South Carolina an average of 13.56¢ per kWh in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 21% above the South Carolina commercial average of 11.18¢. 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 Palmetto Electric Cooperative?

About $446 a month in 2025, on average use of about 3,288 kWh a month. That is Palmetto Electric Cooperative’s commercial revenue divided by its 11,990 commercial customers. A few very large accounts pull the average up, so most businesses pay less than this.

Have Palmetto Electric Cooperative’s commercial electricity rates gone up?

The average Palmetto Electric Cooperative billed commercial customers rose 22% between 2015 and 2025, from 11.11¢ to 13.56¢ per kWh. The South Carolina commercial average rose 9.5% over the same period.

How reliable is Palmetto Electric Cooperative’s electric service?

Palmetto Electric Cooperative customers averaged 38 minutes without power in 2025, excluding major storms, against a 124-minute average for U.S. utilities reporting the same way (EIA).

Does Palmetto Electric Cooperative use smart meters for businesses?

EIA counts 11,990 advanced (AMI) meters among Palmetto Electric Cooperative’s 11,990 commercial meters in 2025, which is 100%. 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 Palmetto Electric Cooperative?

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 Palmetto Electric Cooperative’s tariff.