PUF's Where's Energy

Rate Runup Moderating

February’s Consumer Price Index for electricity was up 12.9 percent year-over-year. March’s CPI for electricity was up by less, 10.2 percent year-over-year.

And now April’s CPI for electricity is in. April’s was up by even less, 8.4 percent year-over-year.

This is the clearest sign yet that the runup in residential electric rates is moderating. It was a little rough there for a while. Driven by the abrupt rise in natural gas prices in the spring and summer of last year from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Penny on the Dollar

Californians’ residential electric bills averaged just nine-tenths of one percent of all their expenditures on goods and services in the year 2021. 0.91 percent to be precise. Significantly less than a penny on the dollar.

This according to the data used by the U.S. Commerce Department to calculate the Gross Domestic Product.

California’s average was well below the national average, 1.26 percent. Per kilowatt-hour rates are high in California, as compared to other states, but kilowatt-hour consumption is low.