Home › Space heater › West Virginia
Cost to run a space heater in West Virginia (August 2026 rates)
At 16.31¢ per kilowatt-hour — West Virginia's average residential price in August 2026 — running a space heater costs $141 a year. That is 10% less than the national average of $157. West Virginia's residential rate is up 4.4% from August 2025, which moves this appliance from $135 to $141 a year.
- Per hour
- 14.7¢
- Per day of use
- $1.17
- Per month
- $11.74
- Per year
- $141
Assumption: 1,500 W at a 60% duty cycle, 8 hours a day, 120 days a year — 864 kWh a year. 1,500 W is the ceiling for a 120 V plug-in heater, and nearly every model sold hits it on high. A thermostat changes how often it runs, not how hard. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.
Related calculators: cost whole-house electric heating instead of one room.
How West Virginia compares
West Virginia pays 16.31¢/kWh, the 25th cheapest residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $15.98 less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same space heater costs $110 a year in Nevada and $408 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $298 a year.
| State | Rate | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon | 15.92¢ | $11.46 | $138 |
| Missouri | 16.02¢ | $11.53 | $138 |
| West Virginia | 16.31¢ | $11.74 | $141 |
| Alabama | 16.33¢ | $11.76 | $141 |
| New Mexico | 16.51¢ | $11.89 | $143 |
States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for a space heater.
What else costs about the same in West Virginia
Cutting the number down
- Heating one occupied room and letting the rest of the house sit cooler is the whole case for a space heater. Running one in every room costs more than central heat.
- Ceramic, oil-filled and infrared heaters all convert essentially 100% of the electricity to heat. At the same wattage the running cost is identical, whatever the box claims.
- The cheapest watt is the one you skip: closing the door to the room you are heating does more than any model upgrade.
Questions
- How much does a space heater cost per month in West Virginia?
- About $11.74 a month, assuming 1,500 W at a 60% duty cycle, 8 hours a day, 120 days a year at 16.31¢/kWh.
- How many kilowatt-hours does a space heater use?
- Roughly 864 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 0.90 kWh for every hour it runs.
- Is that expensive compared with other states?
- West Virginia has the 25th cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $157 a year.