Why is my electric bill this high?

The answer comes in four layers, each labelled so you can tell what kind of statement you're reading.

1. Arithmetic on your numbers. With this period's electric charges, the kWh used and the billing days, the check divides: charges ÷ kWh gives your all-in price per kWh, kWh ÷ days gives daily use, and charges ÷ days gives daily cost. Nothing at this layer is estimated.
2. Published averages, labelled as context. For Florida, EIA's statewide average residential price and average monthly use appear beside your figures with the period each covers. They describe all customers of all utilities, so they're a reference point, not a target.
3. Possibilities to check. Your answers about heating, cooling, water heating and other equipment decide which explanations are worth checking. They're written as things to confirm, because a monthly total can't show which equipment used the electricity.
4. A plan in a fixed order. Missing information comes first, then steps that cost nothing, then low-cost steps, then projects that need quotes. Each step says who it suits, how much effort it takes and how to put a number on it.

If you pick FPL or JEA as your utility and enter kWh, the answer also shows what your next kWh costs on that utility's current residential rate, before taxes and local fees. That's the number to use when you value a kWh saved.

FPL's own explanation of a residential bill groups this period's electric charges into a few kinds of line. Together they make up the electric charges the check asks for.

• Base charge. A fixed monthly amount for the meter, billing and customer service: $10.52 on the October 2026 residential rate, whether or not you use electricity.
• Base energy and fuel charges. Both priced per kWh, and both higher for usage above 1,000 kWh in the billing period.
• Clause charges and a credit. Smaller per-kWh lines for storm protection, environmental compliance, conservation programs and capacity, plus a transition credit that FPL says declines to zero by January 1, 2027.
• Taxes and fees. A gross receipts tax and regulatory assessment fee that FPL puts at 2.6% of gross revenues, plus franchise charges and utility taxes that vary by city and county.

The bill also lists the kWh used and the service period. If it doesn't print the number of billing days, count the days between the service dates. Leave out anything that isn't this period's electricity, such as a balance carried forward or a payment.

JEA's bill explanation shows separate sections for electric, sewer, water and irrigation service, each with its own taxes and fees. Only the electric section belongs in this check.

• Basic monthly charge. $21.00 a month on rates effective October 1, 2026, owed even if you use no energy.
• Energy charge. Priced per kWh, with a higher price above 1,000 kWh.
• Fuel charge. Priced per kWh and reset by JEA every month: $42.82 per 1,000 kWh in September 2026, $43.26 in October and $49.75 in November.
• Taxes and fees. In Duval County, a 3% franchise fee, a 2.5641% gross receipts tax and a 10% public service tax, with part of the fuel charge exempt from the public service tax. Other areas differ.

Enter the electric section's total and say the amount covers electricity only. If you enter the bill's grand total instead, tell the check it includes other services; it will then skip the price per kWh rather than divide water and sewer charges by your kWh. The bill's 13 months of usage history is the quickest way to see how your kWh changes with the seasons.

• All-in price: $212.40 ÷ 1,380 kWh = $0.1539, or 15.39¢/kWh.
• Per-kWh rate: $190.00 ÷ 1,380 kWh = 13.77¢/kWh. This, not the all-in price, is what each kWh saved is worth (before percentage-based taxes).
• Daily use: 1,380 ÷ 31 = 44.5 kWh a day, or about 1,335 kWh per 30 days.
• Daily cost: $212.40 ÷ 31 = $6.85 a day.

For context, EIA's 2024 average for a Florida residential customer was 1,104 kWh a month, so this home uses about 231 kWh more per 30 days. That gap isn't a diagnosis: the season, the size of the home, how many people live there and the equipment all move it. The useful next step is to compare kWh per day with an earlier bill from a similar season.

EIA's 2024 average for a Florida residential customer, 1,104 kWh a month, is about 36.3 kWh a day. Here is what that much electricity comes to on each utility's current residential rate, before taxes and local fees.

The last column is what the higher price above 1,000 kWh adds compared with pricing those kWh at the lower rate. A home using the average amount sits just over the line, so its next kWh is priced at the higher rate; in a month under 1,000 kWh, the next kWh costs the lower one. EIA's average Florida residential bill for 2024 was $156.09 a month. It covers every utility in the state and that year's prices, so it won't match either figure; use it as a sense of scale, and use your own utility's rate for anything you calculate.

1. Mixing two periods. A balance carried forward or a late fee makes one bill look like more than a month of electricity.
2. Mixing services. On a combined bill, water and sewer charges divided by your kWh produce a price per kWh that no utility charges.
3. Ignoring billing days. A 33-day bill covers about 18% more days than a 28-day bill, so its kWh and total rise even if nothing in the home changed. Compare kWh per day.
4. Valuing savings at the all-in price. Fixed monthly charges don't fall when you use less, so a kWh saved is worth the per-kWh rate, which is lower.
5. Treating an average as a target. Statewide averages mix every home size, utility and month. Being above one isn't a problem in itself.
6. Reading one bill as a trend. One month can't show a season. Use a year of bills, JEA's 13-month history or FPL's Energy Manager to see the pattern before deciding what changed.

• If the bill went up, put it next to an earlier one in the bill comparison to split the change into usage, price, billing days and fixed charges.
• If the price per kWh looks high, separate fixed charges from per-kWh lines with the price per kWh calculator, and see how the 1,000 kWh tier works on the FPL and JEA pages.
• If daily use looks high, put numbers on specific equipment with the appliance, space heater and pool pump calculators.
• If you're weighing an upgrade, run the payback calculator with a written quote, and check which rebates and credits still apply in 2026.
• To track it, save the plan to a free account and run the check again when the next bill arrives.