Posted April 20, 2017:
The Consumer Price Index for electricity increased 1.6 percent from March 2016 to March 2017, per Friday’s Labor Department release. The overall CPI, for all goods and services, increased 2.4 percent.
This means the real price of electricity paid by U.S. households is significantly lower than it was a year ago.
But what’s been happening to the price of electricity regionally and over the long term?
Since the Labor Department’s base period of 1982 – 1984, the national CPI for electricity has increased 84.4 percent as much as the national overall CPI.
This means the real price of electricity for American households has significantly fallen in recent decades. This is particularly the case for households in the Northeast and South.
Since the base period, the Northeast’s CPI for electricity has increased 76.1 percent as much as the Northeast’s overall CPI.
Since the base period, the South’s CPI for electricity has increased 78.1 percent as much as the South’s overall CPI.
Households in the Midwest have enjoyed a fall in the real price of electricity, though slightly less of a fall than households nationally. Since the base period, the Midwest’s CPI for electricity has increased 86.6 percent as much as the Midwest’s overall CPI.
Households in the West have not enjoyed a fall in the real price of electricity. Instead, the real price has risen rather than fallen. Since the base period, the West’s CPI for electricity has increased 107.9 percent as much as the West’s overall CPI.
Number-crunching and insights by the magazine for commentary, opinion and debate on utility regulation and policy since 1928, Public Utilities Fortnightly.
Steve Mitnick, Editor-in-Chief, Public Utilities Fortnightly
E-mail me: mitnick@fortnightly.com
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