A tiny peek at the new March issue, its 72 pages of articles, columns, cartoons, photography, puzzles, perspectives on our past
Gustav Kirchhoff, who you can blame for the miserable complexity of electrical transmission and distribution systems, was born on March 12. Kirchoff's collaborator, in finding two of the 118 elements, was Robert Bunsen. That's right, he's the one that invented the mainstay of chem labs since, the Bunsen burner.
In last year, electric prices fell 6.2% in the northeast (9.9% in Boston area, 11% in NY area) and 3.5% in the south (9.5% in Houston area, 8.7% in Dallas area)
On Friday, the Consumer Price Index for January was announced. Yesterday's column analyzed this ultimate measure of consumer prices, for all goods and services, and then electric and natural gas service specifically. Pretty interesting.
But the numbers were averaged for the country as a whole. Today's column will look at the indices for regions and metro areas.
In last year, electric fell 2.4%, gas fell 12.7%, while overall CPI rose 1.4%
On Friday, the Consumer Price Index for January was announced. The ultimate measure of consumer prices was unchanged from December, for all consumer goods and services.
But for electric service, specifically, the index fell seven tenths of a percent. For natural gas service, specifically, the index fell six tenths of a percent. This means electricity and natural gas became cheaper, relatively.
You will see that this house everywhere is generously supplied with these outlets. They give life to a variety of electric devices, and make it possible for them to be used wherever and whenever they are needed. They are the source of much pleasure and convenience.
But today, with the electricity cut off, they might as well not exist...
If we listen to the talk of the people we shall hear them say over and over again: "Never did we realize before that electricity played such an important part in our lives."
Electric bills average four to four-and-a-half percent of expenditures of low income households
One of the primary concerns in utility regulation, rightfully so, is the affordability of electricity to low income households. So how are we doing in this critical area?
The answer can be found in the latest semi-annual Consumer Expenditure Survey by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. This survey has been providing extraordinary insights about what Americans buy, and what they spend, since the 1980's. It samples many thousands of households quarterly and repeatedly.
America’s electric bill, two to three percent since the 1950’s, now steadily two percent
There are several good measures of what electricity costs us. What's the best? Let's try dividing the total of all our electric bills into America's gross domestic product, its GDP.
This way, we capture all our expenditures on electric service. Whether directly through residential bills. Or indirectly through the bills paid by businesses and institutions that we ultimately pay for (through our purchases of all goods and services).
Does your household have a hundred or more electric machines, appliances, devices?
Basic twenty-five electric machines, appliances, devices in most homes excluding lights:
1. one window air conditioner or central air conditioning
2. one gas furnace fan motor/igniter or electric heat
3. one interior thermostat
4. one ceiling, standing or table fan
5. one microwave oven
6. one coffee maker
7. one toaster
8. one refrigerator/freezer
9. one dishwasher
10. one garbage disposal
Frankenstein, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Maximum Overdrive, The Brave Little Toaster
Last Friday's "Today from Public Utilities Fortnightly," summarizing four electricity horror movies, stirred many of you to find more such flicks. Here's four:
The first Frankenstein film was a 16-minute picture created in 1910 by Edison Studios. Thomas Edison may have been the producer.
In the legendary 1931 film, scientist Henry Frankenstein and assistant Fritz assemble a human body from parts collected from around their European village. Frankenstein wants to create human life through electrical devices he's "innovated."
The Pulse, Shocker, Ghost in the Machine, The Darkest Hour
An intelligent pulse of electricity moves from house to house. It's really a smart grid.
It terrorizes households by taking control of their appliances. The Internet of things run amok. The pulse kills some people but others wreck their house fighting it. Then the pulse travels along the power lines to the next house, and the horror repeats itself.
For ten straight months, electricity 1.5 percent or less of consumer expenditures
The Commerce Department last week reported the gross domestic product. A major component of the GDP is personal consumption expenditures, what is spent by American households on all goods and services. Plus what is spent on their behalf, by insurance companies for example.
A tiny slice of consumer expenditures is our electric bills. How tiny? In December 2015, just 1.37 percent of expenditures were to pay for electricity.