Louisiana energy profile

Manufacturing energy costs in Louisiana

Louisiana plants pay 6.08 cents per kWh for industrial power as of Jul 2026, which puts the state 37.8% under the national average and 2 of 51 in the country, counting from the cheapest.

Current prices in Louisiana

  • Industrial electricity: 6.08 cents per kWh (Jul 2026, EIA).
  • Commercial electricity, the rate a warehouse or distribution center in Louisiana typically pays: 10.97 cents per kWh.
  • Industrial natural gas: 3.87 per Mcf (Jul 2026), 15.5% below the national average.
  • Just below Louisiana on the price ladder: New Mexico at 4.16 cents. Just above: Texas at 7.07, Tennessee at 7.13, Kentucky at 7.51 cents.

What the rate does to operating cost

  • A 10 kW machine running a 4,000 hour year costs about 2,432 in electricity at Louisiana rates versus 3,908 at the national average; at 50 kW the gap is 12,160 versus 19,540, and at 200 kW it is 48,640 versus 78,160.
  • Energy is a genuine competitive advantage here: energy-intensive steps like heat treating, melting, and drying carry meaningfully lower unit cost in Louisiana than in most of the country, which strengthens make-versus-buy cases for keeping those operations in-house.

What factory labor pays in Louisiana

  • Industrial production managers: $64.05/hr median in Louisiana versus $60.61 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial engineers: $59.09/hr median in Louisiana versus $49.25 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Production supervisors: $37.27/hr median in Louisiana versus $35.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Welders, cutters, and brazers: $29.93/hr median in Louisiana versus $25.84 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Machinists: $29.38/hr median in Louisiana versus $28.24 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial machinery mechanics: $28.97/hr median in Louisiana versus $31.02 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Louisiana employs about 144,000 manufacturing workers as of Aug 2026 (BLS).

Manufacturing base in Louisiana

  • Louisiana has 3,044 manufacturing establishments employing about 120,360 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).
  • Largest sectors by establishment count: fabricated metal products (685), food manufacturing (378), machine shops (241), chemical manufacturing (235), printing and related support (230).

Sources and update cadence

  • Prices come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and refresh automatically when the agency publishes; this page also archives each month's Louisiana observation so the local price history deepens over time.

Last reviewed 2026-09-30.