AWS bill line item
LoadBalancerUsage
An hourly rate per load balancer, plus a rate per Load Balancer Capacity Unit (LCU) used. The highest dimension in that hour sets the LCUs. The dimensions are new connections, active connections, processed bytes, and rule evaluations. The LCU count is not a simple sum.
Load balancer hourly usage and LCU charge
Verified against official AWS documentation last checked
Why it shows up
The flat hourly charge is predictable. LCUs are the confusing part. AWS bills on the highest-consuming dimension in each hour. A spike in new-connection rate or in processed bytes can drive cost up, even if the other dimensions look normal.
Bills also climb when you run more load balancers than you need. One per microservice or environment is a common cause. Listener rules or path-based routing on shared load balancers let you consolidate.
How to cut it
- Consolidate multiple services behind fewer load balancers using host- or path-based routing rules instead of provisioning one per service.
- Investigate which LCU dimension is driving cost via CloudWatch metrics rather than assuming it's raw traffic volume.
- Tune client connection behavior (keep-alives, connection pooling) to avoid unnecessary new-connection churn.
- Delete idle/unused load balancers left over from decommissioned environments. The hourly charge accrues regardless of traffic.
How to read a usage type
LoadBalancerUsage carries no region or direction token, so there's nothing to break down here.
Source
Source: AWS docs →Found LoadBalancerUsage on your own bill?
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