Rhode Island energy profile
Manufacturing energy costs in Rhode Island
The current industrial power rate in Rhode Island is 22.18 cents per kWh (May 2026, EIA), ranking 49 of 51 states and sitting 154.6% above the national average.
Current prices in Rhode Island
- Industrial electricity: 22.18 cents per kWh (May 2026, EIA).
- Commercial electricity, the rate a warehouse or distribution center in Rhode Island typically pays: 25.41 cents per kWh.
- Industrial natural gas: 8.42 per Mcf (May 2026), 97.2% above the national average.
- Just below Rhode Island on the price ladder: New Hampshire at 17.04, Massachusetts at 19.94, California at 20.2 cents. Just above: Alaska at 31.36, Hawaii at 41.9 cents.
What the rate does to operating cost
- A 10 kW machine running a 4,000 hour year costs about 8,872 in electricity at Rhode Island rates versus 3,484 at the national average; at 50 kW the gap is 44,360 versus 17,420, and at 200 kW it is 177,440 versus 69,680.
- Power costs here punish waste. In Rhode Island, load-shifting, waste heat recovery, and idle-time elimination pay back quicker than the national math suggests, and quotes for energy-heavy work should use the local rate, not a national default.
What factory labor pays in Rhode Island
- Industrial production managers: $59.67/hr median in Rhode Island versus $60.61 nationally (OEWS 2025).
- Industrial engineers: $52.57/hr median in Rhode Island versus $49.25 nationally (OEWS 2025).
- Production supervisors: $39.25/hr median in Rhode Island versus $35.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
- Industrial machinery mechanics: $31.14/hr median in Rhode Island versus $31.02 nationally (OEWS 2025).
- Tool and die makers: $30.49/hr median in Rhode Island versus $30.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
- Machinists: $27.77/hr median in Rhode Island versus $28.24 nationally (OEWS 2025).
- Rhode Island employs about 40,000 manufacturing workers as of Jun 2026 (BLS).
Manufacturing base in Rhode Island
- Rhode Island has 1,188 manufacturing establishments employing about 40,210 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).
- Largest sectors by establishment count: fabricated metal products (219), food manufacturing (141), printing and related support (93), machinery manufacturing (76), chemical manufacturing (69).
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 Rhode Island observation so the local price history deepens over time.
Last reviewed 2026-05-12.