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

About $31.70 a month, assuming 1,500 W at a 50% duty cycle, 12 hours a day, 150 days a year at 28.18¢/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?

Rhode Island has the 7th 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 Rhode Island (August 2026 rates)

At 28.18¢ per kilowatt-hour — Rhode Island's average residential price in August 2026 — running an electric baseboard heater costs $380 a year. That is 55% more than the national average of $245. Rhode Island's residential rate is up 6.2% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $358 to $380 a year.

Per hour: 21.1¢
Per day of use: $2.54
Per month: $31.70
Per year: $380

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 Rhode Island compares

Rhode Island pays 28.18¢/kWh, the 7th most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $135 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
District of Columbia	25.98¢	$29.23	$351
New Hampshire	27.64¢	$31.09	$373
Rhode Island	28.18¢	$31.70	$380
New York	28.65¢	$32.23	$387
Alaska	29.41¢	$33.09	$397

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

What else costs about the same in Rhode Island

Pool pump$487 a year in RI Garage refrigerator$254 a year in RI Space heater$243 a year in RI

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 Rhode Island?: About $31.70 a month, assuming 1,500 W at a 50% duty cycle, 12 hours a day, 150 days a year at 28.18¢/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?: Rhode Island has the 7th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs more here than the U.S. average of $245 a year.