CPI-Electricity fell 1.3% while overall CPI rose 1%
The Consumer Price Index was published last Thursday for May 2016. Electricity? The CPI for electricity has fallen 1.3 percent over the twelve months ending May.
During the same period, the overall CPI has risen 1 percent. So electricity is significantly less expensive than it was a year ago.
The spread between the overall CPI and the CPI-Electricity is a measure of electricity becoming less expensive. The spread for May was 2.3 percent.
The spread is computed by subtracting the overall CPI, at 1 percent, less the CPI-Electricity, at minus 1.3 percent.
The spread for May of last year was minus 0.5 percent. This means electricity was becoming slightly more expensive over the twelve months ending May 2015.
The spread in recent months has been extraordinarily high. It was 3.2 percent in April, 2.6 percent in March, 4 percent in February, and 3.8 percent in January. This means electricity was becoming much less expensive over the twelve months ending April, March, February and January 2016.
The spread for May, as noted, was a fairly high 2.3 percent. This is good news for consumers, continuing since January.
For ten years, the price for Public Utilities Fortnightly hasn't budged from twenty-four bucks per issue. Adjusted for inflation, this means PUF is twenty percent cheaper than in 2006. Contact Joe Paparello at paparello@fortnightly.com for one of the best bargains in utility regulation and policy.
Steve Mitnick, Editor-in-Chief, Public Utilities Fortnightly
E-mail me: mitnick@fortnightly.com
