How much does an electric baseboard heater cost per month in Illinois?

About $21.73 a month, assuming 1,500 W at a 50% duty cycle, 12 hours a day, 150 days a year at 19.32¢/kWh.

How many kilowatt-hours does an electric baseboard heater use?

Roughly 1,350 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.75 kWh for every hour it runs.

Is that expensive compared with other states?

Illinois has the 18th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $245 a year.

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Cost to run an electric baseboard heater in Illinois (August 2026 rates)

At 19.32¢ per kilowatt-hour — Illinois's average residential price in August 2026 — running an electric baseboard heater costs $261 a year. That is 6% more than the national average of $245. Illinois's residential rate is up 7.2% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $243 to $261 a year.

Per hour: 14.5¢
Per day of use: $1.74
Per month: $21.73
Per year: $261

Assumption: 1,500 W at a 50% duty cycle, 12 hours a day, 150 days a year — 1,350 kWh a year. Per 6-foot section. A whole house typically has several running at once, so multiply by the number of sections in use. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.

How Illinois compares

Illinois pays 19.32¢/kWh, the 18th most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $15.66 more a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same electric baseboard heater costs $172 a year in Nevada and $637 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $465 a year.

State	Rate	Per month	Per year
Virginia	17.64¢	$19.85	$238
Delaware	18.70¢	$21.04	$252
Illinois	19.32¢	$21.73	$261
Ohio	19.38¢	$21.80	$262
Wisconsin	19.41¢	$21.84	$262

States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for an electric baseboard heater.

What else costs about the same in Illinois

Pool pump$334 a year in IL Garage refrigerator$174 a year in IL Space heater$167 a year in IL

Cutting the number down

Resistance heat is 1 kWh in, 1 kWh of heat out. There is no efficiency upgrade available; the only lever is running fewer of them, less often.
Furniture pushed against a baseboard blocks convection and makes the thermostat run the element longer.
Zoning by room is the built-in advantage. Turning unused rooms down to 55 F is where the savings live.

Questions

How much does an electric baseboard heater cost per month in Illinois?: About $21.73 a month, assuming 1,500 W at a 50% duty cycle, 12 hours a day, 150 days a year at 19.32¢/kWh.
How many kilowatt-hours does an electric baseboard heater use?: Roughly 1,350 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.75 kWh for every hour it runs.
Is that expensive compared with other states?: Illinois has the 18th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $245 a year.