4 utilities compared · 12 plans · 720 ZIP codes
Electricity rates in Missouri
Not a state average. The same household, priced hour by hour for a year on the default plan at each utility we cover here — so the differences below are differences in the tariffs, not in how much anyone used.
What a year of electricity costs in Missouri
| Household | Uses | Median, per year | Cheapest utility | Dearest utility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apartment One or two people, no central air, no electric heat | 4,866 kWh | $785 | $672 | $929 |
| Family home Three or four people with central air conditioning | 9,453 kWh | $1,289 | $1,240 | $1,362 |
| Home with an EV Same house, plus an electric car charging overnight | 13,103 kWh | $1,650 | $1,606 | $1,707 |
Median and range across the 4 utilities, each on the plan a household lands on by default. Estimates for comparing utilities against each other, not a prediction of any one bill; they exclude taxes, local surcharges and demand charges.
How much does where you live inside Missouri matter?
Run the same three-bedroom house with central air through the default residential plan at each of the 4 utilities we cover in Missouri, and the yearly bill lands between $1,240 at Union Electric Co and $1,362 at Ozark Border Electric; the median is $1,289. That is a narrow band — the dearest utility charges 10% more than the cheapest for identical use. In Missouri, who bills you matters less than how much you use and which of their plans you are on.
The utility is fixed by your address; the plan is not. At Evergy Missouri West, the cheapest and dearest of its 5 comparable plans are $289 a year apart for the same house — more than the gap between Missouri's cheapest and dearest utilities. Put differently, the plan you pick at your own utility is worth more than the accident of which utility you have.
2 of the 4 utilities file at least one plan priced by the hour (5 plans in all). If yours is one of them, shifting when you use power is worth real money; if not, only the total matters and the plan list is short.
Utility by utility
Cheapest first, for the family home. The last two columns are where the money is: how far the default plan sits from the cheapest one the same utility files.
| Utility | Plans | Default plan, a year | Cheapest plan | By the hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union Electric Co 1(M) Residential Anytime Service Rate | 5 | $1,240 | $1,226 | 3 plans |
| Cuivre River Electric Coop Residential | 1 | $1,288 | only plan | — |
| Evergy Missouri West Residential Service (GMO) | 5 | $1,290 | $1,266 | 2 plans |
| Ozark Border Electric Schedule 1/61: Residential/Farm Single-Phase | 1 | $1,362 | only plan | — |
Before you compare anything
- Should you switch to a time-of-use electricity plan?
A wide peak-to-off-peak gap is a lever, not a saving. Levers need something to move.
- How to compare electricity plans without getting it wrong
Six things that break a comparison, and the order to check them in.
- Electricity rates by state: what the filed tariffs actually say
Median rates from the tariffs themselves, not a state-level average.