The Energy Department reports that the average residential rate for electric service was lower than last year in every month this year through August (the latest month of the data). Except this March.
It also reports that the average commercial rate was lower than last year in every month this year. No exceptions.
Year-to-date, the average residential rate was 12.54 cents per kilowatt-hour this year. That’s lower than last year, by 0.9 percent, when it was 12.65 cents.
Year-to-date, the average commercial rate was 10.34 cents this year. That’s quite a bit lower than last year, by 2.7 percent, when it was 10.63 cents.
These are decreases in absolute terms. If we adjusted for inflation, which was about 1.1 percent over the last twelve months, the decreases would be greater.
Also year-to-date, electric service bills were down, compared to last year. Both residential and commercial.
We know this since electricity sales in dollars were down 1.8 percent to the residential sector and 2.8 percent to the commercial sector.
However, it was a challenging summer.
Electricity sales in dollars were actually up in June, July and August, compared to last year. Both residential and commercial.
This increase was offset by what took place in January through May. Electricity sales in dollars were down quite a bit in those first five months, for both sectors.
Number-crunching the electric and natural gas utilities industries since 1928, Public Utilities Fortnightly.
