Talkin' 'Bout My Generation
Electricity’s share of wallet is greatest in households of those 55-64 and older.
PUF's Where's Energy
Affordability and Energy Transformation Investment
How does the scale of investment affect customers’ affordability?
Ratemaking and Consumer Behavior
What’s a utility provider to do when talking about rate increase proposals?
January's Electric and Gas Rates
Overall CPI was up 3.1% from January 2023 for all goods and services.
PUF Affordability Seminars
PUF has developed two seminars on affordability, one for an organization’s leaders and communications professionals, the other for its and regulatory professionals.
Fun Fact of the Week
American consumers paid 20.6 times more per household in Q4 2023 than in Q4 1959, adjusting for population growth.
Electric Rates 1/40th of the CPI
Electricity is 2.522 percent of the Consumer Price Index. As a fraction, that’s about one-fortieth.
Other components of the CPI with a similar weight on this all-important measure of inflation? Full service meals and snacks, like restaurants, have a weight in the CPI of 2.324. Limited service meals and snacks, like fast food, have a weight of 2.272.
Apparel has a weight in the CPI of 2.464. Used cars and trucks have a weight of 2.544. Hospitals and related services have a weight of 2.308. Motor vehicle insurance has a weight of 2.874.
PUF's Electric Bill Affordability Index
The Electric Bill Affordability Index tracks how much consumers can afford other stuff.
Where's Affordability
Electricity has generally been a shrinking part of consumer expenditures since the great recession, while consumer expenditures have grown.
Electric Affordability Factbook
Public Utilities Fortnightly has published the sixty-page Electric Affordability Factbook. It provides new quantitative detail on those electric utility residential customers that are struggling with affordability.
You can freely download the Factbook here or view the online flipbook.