The Labor Department released August data on producer prices on September 10.

Notably, the average price for the natural gas sold to electric power producers was fifty-two percent higher in August than in August of 2020.

The average price of natural gas sold to commercial and industrial customers was twenty-nine percent and forty-five percent higher in August than in August of 2020, respectively.

And the average price of electricity sold to commercial and industrial customers was four percent and five percent higher in August than in August of 2020, respectively.

Because of the pandemic, people stayed home more last year. This shows up in the average residential electric bill.

The data courtesy of the most authoritative source on what American households have spent their money on, the Labor Department’s extraordinarily comprehensive Consumer Expenditure Survey. 2020 data was released on September 9.  

Compared with the prior pre-pandemic year, the average monthly bill rose in 2020 by three percent to $126.

As usual, the average varies quite a lot by region and by income.

A quote from Anthony Oni, Energy Impact Partner's managing partner for the Elevate Future initiative:

"So, as we go through this clean energy transition, we want to be more intentional about making sure access to capital flows to Black, Brown, Latinx, Indigenous groups, women, LBGTQ, veterans, and individuals with disabilities. We want to make sure that under-represented founders and entrepreneurs — what I call the underestimated — have a chance to take part in this economy."

The U.S. Commerce Department just reported July’s gross domestic product data. It showed that residential electric bills nationally fell to 1.24 percent of total consumption expenditures. 

This percentage was as high as 1.40 percent last July, which was one of the first months of the pandemic. Residential electric bills nationally were almost identical in July 2020 and July 2021.  But due to the pandemic’s initial impact on the economy, total consumption expenditures in July 2020 were eleven percent lower than in July 2021.