City of Salem electricity rates
City of Salem charges an average of 15.11 cents per kilowatt-hour to residential customers, and the average household on its system paid $139 a month using 920 kilowatt-hours, according to its 2024 filing with the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Municipal utility PJM Virginia
Where City of Salem sits
It is a smaller system, serving 11,298 residential customers, which means its fixed costs are spread across a narrow base. At 15.11¢ per kilowatt-hour it is one of the cheaper places to buy electricity in Virginia, 14.2% under the statewide average of 17.61¢.
Consumption is close to the national norm at 920 kilowatt-hours a month against 871, so the rate translates fairly directly into the bill.
Owned by the city it serves and governed by a local board rather than the state commission. No shareholder return is built into the rate. That matters because a bill is not only the cost of generating electricity: it also carries the cost of the network, and who owns that network changes how it is paid for.
| Rate | Monthly bill | Monthly kWh | |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Salem | 15.11¢ | $139 | 920 |
| Virginia average | 17.61¢ | $171 | 1,063 |
| United States average | 18.44¢ | $155 | 871 |
Utility figures: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 annual electric power industry report, 2024. State and national figures: Electric Power Monthly, May 2026. Methodology
Where City of Salem delivers
Its service territory covers 2 Virginia counties, either wholly or in part. Utility boundaries follow historic franchise agreements rather than county lines, so a county appearing here does not mean every address in it is served by City of Salem.
- Roanoke
- Salem City
How often the power goes out
In 2024 the average City of Salem customer went 27 minutes without electricity across 0.24 interruptions. The median across the 941 utilities that report this is 185 minutes.
That is markedly better than typical. Short outage durations usually mean an underground or heavily automated network, and they are expensive to achieve, which is part of why reliable systems often carry higher delivery charges.
Rooftop solar on this system
94 residential customers had net-metered solar in 2024, totalling 0.57 megawatts. That works out to 8.3 installations per thousand customers, against a median of 8 across the utilities reporting it.
Adoption is above the national median, which generally tracks the retail rate more closely than it tracks sunshine. What exports are actually worth.
Other Virginia utilities
| Utility | Rate | Bill | Customers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Electric & Power Co | 14.09¢ | $142 | 2.4 million |
| Appalachian Power Co | 17.02¢ | $178 | 465,283 |
| City of Manassas | 11.63¢ | $115 | 13,947 |
| Bristol Virginia Utilities | 10.99¢ | $132 | 13,633 |
| Prince George Electric Coop | 13.05¢ | $170 | 10,954 |
City of Salem rates: common questions
How much does City of Salem charge per kilowatt-hour?
An average of 15.11 cents per kilowatt-hour across its residential customers in 2024. That is -14.2% against the Virginia average of 17.61¢ and -18.1% against the national average of 18.44¢. It is an all-in average across every residential rate schedule the utility offers, not a specific tariff.
What is the average City of Salem bill?
$139 a month, based on total residential revenue divided by residential customers over the 2024 survey year, at an average of 920 kWh a month. The national average bill is $155 at 871 kWh.
Who owns City of Salem?
It is classified by the EIA as a municipal utility. Owned by the city it serves and governed by a local board rather than the state commission. No shareholder return is built into the rate.
Is City of Salem expensive compared with other Virginia utilities?
It ranks #6 of the 19 Virginia utilities covered here, counting from the most expensive. Nationally it ranks #410 of 1369.