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

About $19.85 a month, assuming 1,500 W at a 50% duty cycle, 12 hours a day, 150 days a year at 17.64¢/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?

Virginia has the 20th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $245 a year.

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

At 17.64¢ per kilowatt-hour — Virginia's average residential price in August 2026 — running an electric baseboard heater costs $238 a year. That is 3% less than the national average of $245. Virginia's residential rate is up 11.3% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $214 to $238 a year.

Per hour: 13.2¢
Per day of use: $1.59
Per month: $19.85
Per year: $238

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 Virginia compares

Virginia pays 17.64¢/kWh, the 20th most expensive residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $7.02 less 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
Colorado	17.17¢	$19.32	$232
Minnesota	17.20¢	$19.35	$232
Virginia	17.64¢	$19.85	$238
Delaware	18.70¢	$21.04	$252
Illinois	19.32¢	$21.73	$261

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

What else costs about the same in Virginia

Pool pump$305 a year in VA Garage refrigerator$159 a year in VA Space heater$152 a year in VA

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 Virginia?: About $19.85 a month, assuming 1,500 W at a 50% duty cycle, 12 hours a day, 150 days a year at 17.64¢/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?: Virginia has the 20th most expensive average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $245 a year.