Cost to run a microwave in Nebraska (July 2026 rates)
At 13.78¢ per kilowatt-hour — Nebraska's average residential price in July 2026 — running a microwave costs $15.09 a year. That is 25% less than the national average of $20.05. Nebraska's residential rate is up 7.3% from July 2025, which moves this appliance from $14.06 to $15.09 a year.
- Per hour
- 16.5¢
- Per day of use
- 4.1¢
- Per month
- $1.26
- Per year
- $15.09
Assumption: 1,200 W, 15 minutes a day, 365 days a year — 110 kWh a year. Draw while cooking; the 1,100 W on the label is delivered power and the wall draw is a little higher. Assumes 15 minutes a day of actual use. Use the calculator to swap in the numbers from your own model.
How Nebraska compares
Nebraska pays 13.78¢/kWh, the 7th cheapest residential electricity of the 51 U.S. jurisdictions EIA reports. For this appliance that works out to $4.96 less a year than the typical U.S. household pays for the same use. Running the same microwave costs $13.93 a year in Louisiana and $52.56 in Hawaii, so where you live changes this bill by $38.63 a year.
| State | Rate | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee | 13.71¢ | $1.25 | $15.01 |
| Idaho | 13.73¢ | $1.25 | $15.03 |
| Nebraska | 13.78¢ | $1.26 | $15.09 |
| Kentucky | 13.81¢ | $1.26 | $15.12 |
| Arkansas | 14.33¢ | $1.31 | $15.69 |
States ranked by average residential price, cheapest first. See all 51 states for a microwave.
What else costs about the same in Nebraska
Cutting the number down
- Reheating in a microwave is close to the cheapest way to put heat into food, because nearly all of it lands in the food rather than the air.
- The clock display draws a couple of watts around the clock, which over a year is a meaningful share of a lightly used microwave's total.
Questions
- How much does a microwave cost per month in Nebraska?
- About $1.26 a month, assuming 1,200 W, 15 minutes a day, 365 days a year at 13.78¢/kWh.
- How many kilowatt-hours does a microwave use?
- Roughly 110 kWh a year under these assumptions, or 1.20 kWh for every hour it runs.
- Is that expensive compared with other states?
- Nebraska has the 7th cheapest average residential rate in the country, so this appliance costs less here than the U.S. average of $20.05 a year.