True Electricity Bill Estimator
The number on a plan ad isn't your bill. Enter your ZIP and monthly usage to see the supply rate, delivery charges, and fixed monthly charge — added up to the realistic total you'll actually owe.
What other tools hide
The advertised rate
A "9¢/kWh" plan looks great until you realize the utility tacks on $14/month just for having a meter, plus delivery charges per kWh.
The fixed charge
Unavoidable. You pay it at 0 kWh. PPL Electric (PA): $14.13. SDG&E (CA): $16.00. Con Edison (NY): $18.69.
Delivery vs supply
In OH/PA/MA, supply and delivery are billed separately. You can shop supply. You can't shop delivery. Tools that conflate the two mislead you.
Frequently asked questions
Why is this called the "True" Bill Estimator?
Most rate comparison tools advertise a single ¢/kWh number — say, "8.5¢/kWh" — and let you assume that's what you'll pay. It isn't. Your bill also includes a fixed monthly customer charge ($4–$18 depending on the utility), per-kWh delivery charges that vary by utility, and sometimes additional riders. This tool surfaces all of them so the total you see is the total you'll pay.
Where does the fixed monthly charge come from?
It's the customer charge filed in your utility's residential tariff with the state PUC. We pull it from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Utility Rate Database (URDB) for Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts utilities, and from the Public Utility Commission of Texas TDU schedule for Texas. You pay this fixed amount every month even if you use zero kWh.
How is the supply rate determined?
For Texas, we query ComparePower's live retail database and pull the cheapest competitive plan available at your ZIP at your specific kWh level. For Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, we pull from PowerKiosk's licensed-supplier database — every certified supplier offering rates in your utility's service territory today. Both data feeds refresh daily. (New Jersey and Washington DC rate comparison is live on our utility pages, but this estimator doesn't have their delivery-tariff data yet.)
My actual bill is higher than this estimate. Why?
The estimator assumes you're on the cheapest competitive plan in your ZIP. If you're on the utility's default supply (Price to Compare in OH/PA/MA, or a variable rate plan in TX), you're paying more for supply than this estimate shows. The optional "current bill" input lets you see the exact gap. Most households at 30%+ above this number are sitting on an expired fixed-rate plan or never switched off utility default.
My actual bill is lower than this estimate. Why?
You're locked into a fixed-rate plan that beats today's best competitive offer for your utility. Hang onto it — when it expires, you'll likely renew at a higher rate.
Does this work for commercial / business electricity?
Not yet. This tool is residential-only. Commercial tariffs include demand charges and voltage tiers we don't model here. A commercial bill estimator is on the roadmap.