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Electricity Bill for a Single person in an apartment in Pennsylvania (2026)

One adult in a one or two room flat. The fridge runs all year, cooking is quick, and a laptop and TV cover the evenings. Nothing runs long enough to dominate.

A single person in an apartment uses about 7,184 kWh of electricity a year. At Pennsylvania prices of $0.22 per kWh (source: EIA Table 5.6.A, 2026-06), that is $131.71 per month, or $1,580 per year.

Benchmark: EIA Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2020, Table CE2.1, average kWh per household using electricity: 1-person household. Data as of 2020. It covers all electricity use including electric heating, air conditioning and water heating where present. The consumption benchmark is national (United States); Pennsylvania differs from it mainly through climate and price, and the price is what changes the figure below.

Where the electricity goes

Heating & cooling 40%
Other appliances 18%
Water heating 12%
Refrigeration & freezing 10%
Lighting 6%
TV, computing & network 6%
Washing, drying & dishwashing 6%
Cooking 3%

End use	Per year	Cost	Share
Heating & cooling	2,866 kWh	$630.61	40%
Water heating	862 kWh	$189.66	12%
Refrigeration & freezing	697 kWh	$153.31	10%
Cooking	201 kWh	$44.25	3%
Washing, drying & dishwashing	402 kWh	$88.51	6%
TV, computing & network	417 kWh	$91.67	6%
Lighting	445 kWh	$97.99	6%
Other appliances	1,293 kWh	$284.49	18%

End-use shares: EIA RECS 2020, Tables CE5.1a and CE5.1b (electricity by detailed end use). Heating & cooling includes air handlers, fans and dehumidifiers; electronics is TVs and related; computers fall in 'other'. These shares are official.

Through the day

Illustrative shape of a typical day: each band's area equals that end use's share of 19.7 kWh a day. The timing is a standard household pattern, not a measurement, and it changes with season and habits.

What drives this household's bill

The fridge is usually the single largest item because it never switches off.
Cooking with the oven instead of the microwave or air fryer is the easiest cost to cut.
Standby draw across router, TV, console and chargers can reach a fifth of the total.

Appliance by appliance

Each end-use bucket above is spread over this household's appliances in proportion to their typical use, never at more than twice that use. What the listed appliances cannot account for appears as "not listed" rows, so the table still adds up to the official figures. Hours are implied, not measured.

Appliance	End use	Typical	Hours/day	Per year	Cost
Refrigerator	Refrigeration & freezing	150 W	12.7 h	697 kWh	$153.31
LED Light Bulb ×5	Lighting	9 W	10.0 h	164 kWh	$36.13
Television	TV, computing & network	100 W	4.4 h	161 kWh	$35.39
Washing Machine ×0.4	Washing, drying & dishwashing	500 W	2.0 h	146 kWh	$32.12
Laptop	TV, computing & network	45 W	8.8 h	145 kWh	$31.85
Induction Cooktop ×0.5	Cooking	1,800 W	21 min	117 kWh	$25.70
Hair Dryer	Other appliances	1,800 W	9 min	99 kWh	$21.68
Wi-Fi Router	TV, computing & network	10 W	24.0 h	88 kWh	$19.27
Vacuum Cleaner ×0.5	Other appliances	1,000 W	15 min	46 kWh	$10.04
Electric Kettle	Cooking	2,000 W	3 min	39 kWh	$8.57
Microwave	Cooking	1,000 W	5 min	32 kWh	$7.14
Toaster	Cooking	1,000 W	2 min	13 kWh	$2.86
Phone Charger	TV, computing & network	10 W	2.2 h	8 kWh	$1.77
Streaming Stick or Box	TV, computing & network	4 W	4.4 h	6 kWh	$1.42
Small appliances, standby and items not listed	Other appliances	–	–	1,149 kWh	$252.77
Additional lights and fittings	Lighting	–	–	281 kWh	$61.85
Extra loads or older machines not listed	Washing, drying & dishwashing	–	–	256 kWh	$56.39
Other screens, chargers, standby	TV, computing & network	–	–	9 kWh	$1.96

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The same household in other countries

Country	Official benchmark	Per year	Per month
United States (average)	7,184 kWh	$1,293	$107.76
United Kingdom	1,600 kWh	£416.00	£34.67
Germany	1,200 kWh	€444.00	€37.00
France	1,905 kWh	€381.00	€31.75
Australia	3,109 kWh	A$1,088	A$90.68
Canada (average)	6,583 kWh	C$921.62	C$76.80

Each row uses that country's own regulator benchmark and average price, in local currency. Differences reflect climate, heating fuel and appliance ownership as much as price.