Commercial electricity in South Dakota

What South Dakota businesses pay for electricity

What utilities billed commercial customers in South Dakota

For each utility, EIA records how many commercial customers it had in 2025 and the average revenue per kWh it billed them. The 10 largest of 17 South Dakota utilities with 500 or more commercial customers are shown.

Together the 10 shown serve about 75% of South Dakota’s 80,546 commercial customers, and all 17 serve about 83%. All South Dakota commercial customers together averaged 10.61¢ per kWh in 2025.

Bundled is the price paid by commercial customers who buy their energy and delivery from the utility, so it is an all-in price. Delivery-only is what the utility billed customers who buy their energy from a competitive supplier, so it is the delivery charge alone and cannot be compared with a bundled price. Each figure averages every commercial customer of that utility and service type, from a corner shop to a campus, so a utility with larger customers averages a lower price per kWh. It is dated context, not a quote and not an offer, and the utility that serves an address is named on its bill.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861, 2025 final data. Utilities across the country · every utility as a CSV.

What a South Dakota commercial account can actually do

There is no competitive retail supply market for general commercial accounts in South Dakota. Any site offering to compare supplier rates for a South Dakota commercial account is describing something that does not exist, and the lead form behind that offer is the product.

The cost is still controllable. It is just controlled through the tariff rather than through a contract:

• Rate schedule fit. Utility rate schedules are designed around assumed load shapes. An account whose actual shape has drifted from the schedule it sits on can be paying a demand rate built for a much steadier consumer, or a volumetric rate built for a much peakier one. Correcting it is computed from your own usage against a publicly filed alternative tariff, so you or your accountant can verify it.
• Demand charges and ratchet exposure. Frequently the largest controllable line on a South Dakota commercial bill. A ratchet clause means one high interval can set a billing floor for months afterwards, and the recovery date is worth knowing before you plan any load addition.
• Billing accuracy. Meter multipliers, customer classification errors and misapplied riders are more common than most operators expect, and they compound silently because nobody re-reads a bill that looks familiar.
• Efficiency and load management, including any SD PUC-approved utility program the account already qualifies for and is not claiming.

None of that requires a supply market, which is why this work is available in South Dakota on exactly the same terms as in a competitive state. It is also work no supplier would ever raise with you, because there is no supply commission attached to any of it.

Where South Dakota sits

Every US market on one view, coloured by what an account can actually do there. South Dakota is highlighted, and every other tile is a link.

Before we can answer anything specific

We verify from the account, not from the address alone:

• The utility territory actually serving the service address
• The account identifier and customer class
• Current supply arrangement, including any aggregation and its termination status
• Contract expiry date and whether the decision window is open
• 12 months of consumption and, where metered, peak demand