Key reason: in just four other months in history have households consumed more than in this July.
On Friday, the Commerce Department released its data on consumer expenditures in August. Electric bills were 1.5 percent of expenditures.
That’s a low percentage. But slightly higher than in recent Augusts.
Electric bills were 1.44 percent of consumer expenditures in the last two Augusts, in 2015 and 2014. This August was six-hundredths of a percent higher.
A slightly higher percentage is not surprising. Electricity consumption was way up this summer.
Households consumed 154 million megawatt-hours this July, the most recent month of consumption data from the Energy Department.
In just four other months in history have households consumed more than in this July. The last time consumption topped 154 million was in July 2012, four years ago.
The all-time record for household consumption was in July 2011. The record was only a half percent higher than this July’s consumption.
Total consumer expenditures on all goods and services in August, of which electric bills are1.5 percent, came in at a fairly unimpressive level. Expenditures on goods like motor vehicles and gasoline were down. This also made the electric bill percentage higher.
Number-crunching courtesy of Public Utilities Fortnightly.
Steve Mitnick, Editor-in-Chief, Public Utilities Fortnightly
E-mail me: mitnick@fortnightly.com
