Tennessee · Municipal utility · EIA data, final 2025
Nashville Electric Service (NES) commercial electricity rates in Tennessee
What Nashville Electric Service billed its commercial customers, year by year since 2015, with the average bill, the other customer classes, meters, reliability and territory. Official figures, and context for a bill rather than a quote.
Nashville Electric Service billed its 46,070 commercial customers in Tennessee an average of 12.68¢ per kWh in 2025, 1.5% below the state’s commercial average of 12.87¢. The average customer used about 11,213 kWh a month and was billed about $1,422. It is an average over every size of customer, not a rate.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 (final 2025 data) · 2026-10-29
- Average commercial price, 202512.68¢per kWh, all commercial customers
- vs Tennessee average−1.5%state commercial average 12.87¢
- Commercial customers46,070largest of 82 in Tennessee
- Average use11,213 kWha month per commercial customer
- Average bill$1,422a month per commercial customer
- Since 2015+23%from 10.29¢ per kWh
- Outages83 mina year per customer · US average 124
Nashville Electric Service (NES) is a municipal utility serving 7 counties in Tennessee. Among the 82 Tennessee utilities in EIA’s 2025 sales data with 500 or more commercial customers, it is the largest, with about 8.4% of the state’s commercial customers.
Nashville Electric Service commercial electricity prices, 2015 to 2025
In 2015 Nashville Electric Service billed its commercial customers an average of 10.29¢ per kWh. In 2025 the figure was 12.68¢, so it rose 23% over 10 years. The average for all commercial customers in Tennessee rose 27% over the same period. The latest year, 2025, is the highest of the 11 on record here. Between 2024 and 2025 it rose 5.4%.
| Year | Commercial customers | Average price per kWh | Tennessee average per kWh | Average use a month | Average bill a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 46,070 | 12.68¢ | 12.87¢ | 11,213 kWh | $1,422 |
| 2024 | 45,757 | 12.03¢ | 12.05¢ | 11,053 kWh | $1,330 |
| 2023 | 45,522 | 12.03¢ | 11.80¢ | 10,757 kWh | $1,294 |
| 2022 | 45,129 | 12.06¢ | 12.02¢ | 11,053 kWh | $1,333 |
| 2021 | 45,276 | 10.92¢ | 10.87¢ | 10,629 kWh | $1,161 |
| 2020 | 43,963 | 10.73¢ | 10.56¢ | 10,349 kWh | $1,111 |
| 2019 | 43,576 | 10.81¢ | 10.65¢ | 11,681 kWh | $1,262 |
| 2018 | 43,172 | 10.80¢ | 10.51¢ | 11,918 kWh | $1,287 |
| 2017 | 42,743 | 10.58¢ | 10.55¢ | 11,686 kWh | $1,237 |
| 2016 | 42,313 | 10.32¢ | 10.19¢ | 12,034 kWh | $1,242 |
| 2015 | 41,999 | 10.29¢ | 10.16¢ | 12,053 kWh | $1,240 |
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 Nashville Electric Service
In 2025 the average commercial price at Nashville Electric Service was 9.7% below the residential figure and 61% 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.
| Customer class | Customers | Sales (MWh) | Average price per kWh | Average use a month | Average bill a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential | 424,808 | 5,300,875 | 14.04¢ | 1,040 kWh | $146 |
| Commercial | 46,070 | 6,198,978 | 12.68¢ | 11,213 kWh | $1,422 |
| Industrial | 49 | 842,867 | 7.86¢ | 1,433,447 kWh | $112,668 |
How Nashville Electric Service’s commercial rates are set
Nashville Electric Service is owned by the community it serves. Its rates are set locally, by the city council or a utility board, and in most states the state commission does not set them. 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 Tennessee, so the levers are the schedule, the peak and the amount used.
Meters, time-varying rates and net metering at Nashville Electric Service
EIA counts 46,070 commercial meters at Nashville Electric Service in 2025, and 45,847 of them (more than 99%) are advanced meters (AMI), which record use at least hourly and report it to the utility at least daily. Of the rest, 223 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 Nashville Electric Service, 22 commercial customers were on a time-varying rate in 2025, about 0.0% 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 Nashville Electric Service reports offering commercial customers are time-of-use pricing.
How reliable is Nashville Electric Service’s electric service?
Nashville Electric Service customers went without power for an average of 83 minutes in 2025, excluding major storms, with about 0.96 interruptions per customer. The average across U.S. utilities reporting the same way is 124 minutes. These are averages over every customer of every class, so they describe the system and not any one street.
Where Nashville Electric Service serves
EIA records Nashville Electric Service serving customers in 7 Tennessee counties: Cheatham, Davidson, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson, Wilson. 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 Tennessee Valley Authority as its balancing authority, the body that keeps supply and demand matched minute by minute across the area.
Other utilities in Tennessee
The average each billed its commercial customers in 2025. The Tennessee page has the state’s own figures and every utility with 500 or more commercial customers.
- MLGW (13.04¢)
- Middle Tennessee Electric (12.12¢)
- Sevier County Electric System (12.53¢)
- KUB (13.21¢)
- EPB (12.46¢)
- Volunteer Energy Cooperative (13.48¢)
- Lenoir City Utilities Board (12.63¢)
- Duck River Electric Membership Corporation (14.63¢)
- Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation (13.48¢)
- BrightRidge (12.13¢)
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 Nashville Electric Service’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 Tennessee 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: Nashville Electric Service commercial electricity rates, CommercialElectricityRates.com, from EIA Form EIA-861 final 2025 data.
Common questions about Nashville Electric Service
- What is the average commercial electricity rate at Nashville Electric Service?
- Nashville Electric Service billed its commercial customers in Tennessee an average of 12.68¢ per kWh in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is 1.5% below the Tennessee commercial average of 12.87¢. 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 Nashville Electric Service?
- About $1,422 a month in 2025, on average use of about 11,213 kWh a month. That is Nashville Electric Service’s commercial revenue divided by its 46,070 commercial customers. A few very large accounts pull the average up, so most businesses pay less than this.
- Have Nashville Electric Service’s commercial electricity rates gone up?
- The average Nashville Electric Service billed commercial customers rose 23% between 2015 and 2025, from 10.29¢ to 12.68¢ per kWh. The Tennessee commercial average rose 27% over the same period.
- How reliable is Nashville Electric Service’s electric service?
- Nashville Electric Service customers averaged 83 minutes without power in 2025, excluding major storms, against a 124-minute average for U.S. utilities reporting the same way (EIA).
- Does Nashville Electric Service use smart meters for businesses?
- EIA counts 45,847 advanced (AMI) meters among Nashville Electric Service’s 46,070 commercial meters in 2025, which is more than 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 Nashville Electric Service?
- 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 Nashville Electric Service’s tariff.
A utility average cannot tell you whether your bill is right. The bill itself can, and it takes three numbers. Nobody calls unless you ask.