October 12's Producer Price Index report showed that the price of natural gas paid by the nation’s powerplant owners in September was 41.6 percent above that of a year ago. That’s the bad news.
What’s the good news? This price rise took place mainly last spring.
From April to May, the price of gas purchased for power generation rose 23.3 percent. On average. Seasonally adjusted. From May to June, it rose another 15.8 percent.
But from June to July, powerplants’ gas prices fell 19.1 percent. Nice.
From July to August, prices did rise. Though more moderately than in the spring, by 7.0 percent. From August to September, they rose again. By only 0.5 percent, however.