In 2008, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 11,040 kWh, an average of 920 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month. Tennessee had the highest annual consumption at 15,624 kWh and Maine the lowest at 6,252 kWh.

About 518.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity were used for cooling and ventilation by the residential and commercial sectors. Of that, about 227 billion kWh was used for cooling by the residential sector, which was about 16% of the total residential electricity consumption. About 291 billion kWh was used by the commercial sector for cooling and ventilation, which was about 22% of total commercial sector electricity consumption. Combined, that was about 17.6% of total U.S. electricity consumption in 2008. 

Capacity is a measure of how much electricity a generator can produce under specific conditions. Generation is how much electricity a generator produces over a specific period of time. For example, a generator with 1 MegaWatt (MW) capacity that operates at that capacity consistently for one hour will produce 1 MW-hour (MWh) of electricity. If it operates at only half that capacity for one hour, it will produce 0.5 MWh of electricity. Many generators do not operate at their full capacity all the time; they may vary their output according to conditions at the power plant, fuel costs, and/or as instructed from the electric power grid operator. Net generation is the amount of gross generation less the electricity used by the generating station/power plant to operate the plant, including fuel handling, boiler and cooling water pumps, pollution control equipment, plant lighting, and computers.

About 517 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity were used for lighting by the residential and commercial sectors. This was equal to about 19% of the total electricity consumed by both of those sectors and 13.4% of total U.S. electricity consumption.

Residential lighting consumption was about 212 billion kWh, equal to about 15% of all residential electricity consumption. About 305 billion kWh was consumed for lighting by the commercial sector, which includes commercial and institutional buildings and public street and highway lighting, equal to about 23% of commercial sector electricity consumption.
 
U.S. Residential Electricity Consumption by End Use, 2008

End-Use Quadrillion
Btu Billion Kilowatt-
hours Share of Total

Space Cooling 0.77 227 16.5%
Lighting 0.72 212 15.4%
Water Heating 0.43 127 9.2%
Space Heating1 0.42 123 8.9%
Refrigeration 0.38 110 8.0%
Televisions and Set-Top Boxes 0.35 101 7.3%
Clothes Dryers 0.26 77 5.6%
Computers and Related Equipment 0.17 49 3.6%
Cooking 0.11 31 2.2%
Dishwashers 2 0.09 27 2.0%
Freezers 0.08 23 1.7%
Clothes Washers 2 0.03 10 0.7%
Other — Miscellaneous Uses 0.89 260 18.8%

Total Consumption 4.71 1,379


1 Includes fans and pumps.
2 Excludes energy for water heating.