Nationally, American households’ natural gas bills averaged $439 in 2014. This is the latest estimate of the Labor Department’s Consumer Expenditure Survey.
This amount is actually lower than the average gas bills in six prior years.
In 2008, when the average was at an all-time high of $531. In 2006, when the average was $509.
In 2009, when the average was $483. In 2007, when the average was $480.
In 2005, when the average was $473. And in 2010, when the average was $440.
Break down the average by region. The differences by region are considerable.
Households’ natural gas bills in the northeast averaged $631 in 2014. That’s $192 more than the national average.
Households’ natural gas bills in the Midwest averaged $670 in 2014. That’s $231 more than the national average.
Households’ natural gas bills in the south averaged $248 in 2014. That’s $191 less than the national average.
Households’ natural gas bills in the west averaged $369 in 2014. That’s $70 less than the national average.
The differences in the use of gas by region are also considerable, per the Census’ American Community Survey.
Nationally, 48.5 percent of households heat their homes with utility-supplied natural gas.
In the northeast, that percentage is significantly higher, at 53.6 percent.
In the Midwest, that percentage is also significantly higher, by a lot, at 67.3 percent.
In the south, that percentage is significantly lower, by a lot, at 30.2 percent.
In the west, that percentage is significantly higher, at 56.4 percent.
Given these differences, it’s informative to estimate averages by region for households that heat their homes with gas versus those they don’t. Stay tuned. We’ll do that in an upcoming column.
Number crunching courtesy of Public Utilities Fortnightly.
Steve Mitnick, Editor-in-Chief, Public Utilities Fortnightly
E-mail me: mitnick@fortnightly.com
