States › South Dakota › Buffalo County
Electric utilities serving Buffalo County, South Dakota
Utilities that list the county in their Form EIA-861 service territory for 2024, with each one's average price, bill and outage minutes.
3 utilities list Buffalo County, South Dakota, in the service territory they reported to EIA for 2024, the largest by residential customers statewide being Central Electric Coop, Inc, Dakota Energy Coop Inc and WAPA: Western Area Power Administration.
Their average residential prices ran from 13.64¢ to 15.30¢ per kilowatthour, with a median of 14.47¢, against a South Dakota average of 12.86¢ and a US average of 16.48¢. Each price is the utility's figure for all of its South Dakota customers, not for this county alone.
WAPA: Western Area Power Administration lists the county too but reported no residential sales in South Dakota under its own name.
The Census Bureau estimates the county's population at 1,802. EIA does not publish customers by county, so which utility serves a given address has to be confirmed with the utility or the state utility commission.
Average price is revenue divided by sales for the sector and year; it is not a tariff rate. Reliability figures are as reported by utilities to EIA on Form 861 and may use different calculation methods. Figures are for each utility's whole South Dakota operation; EIA publishes nothing at county level.
Utilities and their 2024 figures
| Utility | Ownership | Residential customers | ¢ per kWh | Monthly bill | SAIDI, all events | SAIDI, no major events |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Electric Coop, Inc | Cooperative | 6,483 | 13.64¢ | $201.08 | — | — |
| Dakota Energy Coop Inc | Cooperative | 3,224 | 15.30¢ | $246.15 | — | — |
| WAPA: Western Area Power Administration | Federal | — | — | — | — | — |
Ordered by residential customers in South Dakota. Short-form filers are small utilities that report only totals to EIA, so no residential price is available. A utility with no customers shown reported its retail sales elsewhere or delivers power that other companies bill for.
Against the state and the country
| Measure, 2024 | Utilities listing Buffalo County | South Dakota | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average residential price per kWh | 14.47¢ median | 12.86¢ | 16.48¢ |
| Average monthly residential bill | $223.62 median | $127.81 | $142.26 |
| SAIDI, all events (minutes) | — median | 73.7 median | 184.5 median |
| SAIDI, without major event days | — median | 65.1 median | 99.8 median |
| Utilities counted | 3 | 20 | 1,413 |
Population: 1,802 (U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 estimate). Statewide, residential sales came to 5,529 kWh per resident in 2024.
Other South Dakota counties
- Beadle County 6
- Bennett County 2
- Bon Homme County 6
- Brookings County 10
- Brown County 7
- Brule County 4
- Butte County 4
- Campbell County 3
- Charles Mix County 5
- Clark County 6
- Clay County 4
- Codington County 7
All 66 counties and every South Dakota utility
Questions and answers
Who provides electricity in Buffalo County?
Central Electric Coop, Inc, Dakota Energy Coop Inc and WAPA: Western Area Power Administration list the county in their Form EIA-861 service territory for 2024. Territories overlap, and a utility may cover only a corner of the county.
What is the electricity price in Buffalo County?
EIA has no county-level prices. The utilities serving the county reported average residential prices of 13.64¢ to 15.30¢ per kilowatthour across their South Dakota customers in 2024; the state average was 12.86¢.
How reliable is power in Buffalo County?
Reliability is reported per utility, not per county, and none of the utilities listed has an entry in EIA's 2024 reliability file.
Provenance
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 for 2024, final release: service territory file (counties by utility), sales to ultimate customers, reliability and short form files. State and US averages: Form EIA-861M workbook. Population: U.S. Census Bureau. Public domain. To confirm the utility at an address, ask the utility or the state utility commission.