Rate Plan Comparator
Utilities publish several plans and rarely tell you which one suits your usage. This prices every plan they offer against the same consumption, and ranks the ones a household can actually move onto today, so the ranking reflects your household rather than a headline rate.
Not every utility. 1210 tariffs from 217 utilities, retrieved up to October 8, 2026. A utility missing here is one that has not been indexed yet.
Cheapest of 1 plans open to every household at NorthWestern Energy is Rate 10: Residential Electric at $1,936.98 a year.
Cheapest of 1 plan open to every household
$1,936.98a year
Rate 10: Residential Electric
in effect since May 2025
Plans open to every household, cheapest first
| Plan | Per year | vs cheapest | Effective | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rate 10: Residential Electric✓ cheapesttiered · in effect since May 2025 | $1,936.98 | — | 17.9¢ | High confidence |
Restricted plans — priced, not ranked (3)
Means-tested, closed to new customers, needing particular equipment, or only part of a bill. Each is priced so a household that qualifies can compare it.
| Plan | Per year | Effective | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rate 14: Residential Space Heating and Coolingflat rate · in effect since May 2025 · needs electric heating | $1,225.32 | 11.3¢ | High confidence |
| Rate 15: Residential Dual Fuel and Controlled Service.flat rate · in effect since May 2025 · needs a dual-fuel or interruptible system | $1,225.32 | 11.3¢ | High confidence |
| Rate 11: Residential Service with Space Heatingtiered · in effect since May 2025 · needs electric heating | $1,936.98 | 17.9¢ | High confidence |
How this was worked out5 assumptions, 2 that could move the total
- Priced against the 2026 calendar. Weekday and weekend day counts differ between years, which moves the total on a time-of-use tariff.No effect on the total
- Weekend rates are applied on Saturday and Sunday. URDB publishes no holiday calendar, so utilities that bill public holidays at weekend rates are not reflected.Effect unknown
- Hours are local clock hours with no daylight-saving shift, matching how time-of-use periods are written in the tariff.No effect on the total
- Monthly totals were spread evenly across every hour. This tariff prices every hour the same way, so the result is unaffected.No effect on the total
- No sales or utility tax was applied. Most US jurisdictions add one, so a real bill will be higher.Real bill likely higher
Estimate — your actual bill may differ.
Tariff data: NREL/OpenEI Utility Rate Database (CC0 1.0), retrieved October 8, 2026.
Indexed so far: 1210 tariffs from 217 utilities. Not every utility. Utilities are reached two ways: by probing population-centre coordinates in 18 states, and by fetching, by EIA number, the utilities that serve most of each state's homes according to EIA-861. A smaller utility outside both — many rural cooperatives and municipal utilities — will not appear here yet.