District electricity prices climb faster than Maryland's and Virginia's

District households are heading into heating season paying more for electricity than their neighbors across the border, and the gap has grown fast. The average residential price in the District rose 94.3% between January 2021 and January 2026, according to monthly figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

That outpaced Maryland, where prices rose 63.6%, and Virginia, where they rose 45.7%. In January 2026, District residents paid an average of 23.7 cents per kWh, compared with 20.6 cents per kWh in Maryland and 15.9 cents per kWh in Virginia.

The numbers matter for any household in the DMV that runs a heat pump, space heater or electric baseboard heat this winter. They show the District has moved from roughly even with its neighbors to paying a clear premium.

From discount to premium

In January 2021, the District was slightly cheaper than Maryland. The DC-minus-Maryland gap stood at -0.4 cents per kWh, meaning District customers paid a bit less per kilowatt-hour than Maryland customers did.

By January 2026, that gap had flipped. District customers paid 3.1 cents per kWh more than the Maryland average.

The gap with Virginia widened as well. In January 2021, District prices ran 1.3 cents per kWh higher than Virginia's. By January 2026, the difference had grown to 7.9 cents per kWh.

Measured in cents, the District's average price rose 11.5 cents per kWh over the period. Maryland's rose 8.0 cents per kWh, and Virginia's rose 5.0 cents per kWh. Month by month, the District's line has pulled away from both neighbors.

Electricity prices can swing from month to month, so a comparison of January to January could exaggerate a winter blip. A summer check tells the same story.

From July 2021 to July 2025, District prices rose 79.0%. Maryland's rose 45.4% and Virginia's rose 25.9%. The District led its neighbors in that comparison too.

What the grid operator and analysts say

The price data shows how much prices changed, not why. But a regional power market event has drawn attention across the Mid-Atlantic, and it touches the District directly.

PJM Interconnection runs a capacity auction that sets prices by zone. One of those zones covers the retail service areas of Pepco in both Maryland and the District, along with SMECO (opc.maryland.gov). Another covers the Dominion zone in Virginia and North Carolina (Utility Dive).

In a recent auction, capacity prices for the 2025 to 2026 delivery year soared compared with the previous auction (Utility Dive). Consumers across PJM's Mid-Atlantic and Midwest footprint will pay far more for capacity than they did before (Utility Dive).

An analysis reported by Utility Dive found the auction could increase electricity bills in Maryland, with the size of the increase depending on location (Utility Dive). It said the results will increase bills in the Pepco zone (Utility Dive).

A report posted by Maryland's Office of People's Counsel estimated added dollars per month on electric bills in each of the Maryland zones it studied (opc.maryland.gov). That work focused on Maryland bills. It did not put a figure on what District households would pay.

PJM has offered its own explanation. The price spike was mainly driven by power plant retirements, planned shutdowns like those of Talen, increased load and new market rules, according to PJM (Utility Dive).

Synapse, as cited by Utility Dive, pointed to special contracts. The contracts to keep Talen's power plants running likely drove up capacity prices across PJM, Synapse said (Utility Dive).

Those findings do not fully explain the District's faster climb. Pepco customers in Maryland sit in the same capacity zone, yet Maryland's statewide price rose less. The statewide figure blends customers in several zones, so it is not a direct Pepco-to-Pepco comparison.

What to watch this winter

Upcoming monthly releases from the Energy Information Administration will show whether cold-weather months push the District's premium higher or let it ease. Households can compare the price per kilowatt-hour on their own statements against the averages here.

Future PJM capacity auctions will matter for the District, Maryland and Virginia alike. Because the Pepco zone spans both the District and Maryland (opc.maryland.gov), results there will shape what District voters and their Maryland neighbors see on bills in the years ahead.

How we did this

We used the U.S. Energy Information Administration's monthly average residential electricity prices for the District, Maryland and Virginia. We compared January 2021 with January 2026 in percent and in cents per kilowatt-hour, tracked the price gap between the District and each neighbor, and checked the pattern with a July 2021 to July 2025 comparison, when District prices rose 79.0%.

Average residential price: the typical price per kilowatt-hour paid by home customers in a jurisdiction, as reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Cents per kilowatt-hour: the unit most electricity prices are quoted in. A kilowatt-hour is the energy used by a device drawing a kilowatt of power for an hour. Capacity auction: a PJM Interconnection market that sets what power suppliers are paid to be available to meet demand in future years. Pepco zone: the PJM pricing area that covers Pepco's service areas in both Maryland and the District, along with SMECO.

Limitations

• These are average prices across all residential customers in each jurisdiction, not what any single household pays. Your bill depends on how much power you use and your rate plan.
• Average price shows cost per kilowatt-hour, not total monthly bills. A household that uses more electricity in winter will feel price changes more.
• Comparisons rely on single months, which can swing. We added a July check, but other month pairs could show somewhat different sizes of change.
• Recent monthly federal figures can be revised after release.
• Maryland and Virginia figures are statewide averages that mix customers of many utilities and zones, so they are not a direct match for any single District utility.
• The price data cannot show why prices rose. Explanations here come from PJM and from analyses of Maryland bills, which did not estimate District bills.

Sources

• U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): EIA electricity/retail-sales (monthly): price for stateid=DC, sectorid=RES, latest period July 2026; retrieved Oct. 12, 2026. Data
• U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): EIA electricity/retail-sales (monthly): price for stateid=MD, sectorid=RES, latest period July 2026; retrieved Oct. 12, 2026. Data
• U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): EIA electricity/retail-sales (monthly): price for stateid=VA, sectorid=RES, latest period July 2026; retrieved Oct. 12, 2026. Data