The
pain you felt when you opened your electric bill this month was
substantiated by Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which were released
today for the month of June. This Department of Labor Web site
is very thorough, and if you have the patience to wade through it, you
can tailor a search of the average cost of almost anything from
housing to food to health care in your region, or the entire US and
you can compare this year with previous years.
As for energy, the rise in cost from May to June for the New York, Northern New Jersey and Long Island region was the largest monthly gain in at least ten years (probably longer, but that's as far back as I did my search). The Department of Labor Statistics data are expressed as consumer price indexes (CPI) and those indexes are measures of the change in the cost of a fixed basket of products from year to year.
In the case of energy, electricity is a big percentage of the index. The numbers are calculated based on national pricing surveys, with the average prices for the years 1982-1984 representing 100. So, for example, if the index for June 1999 is 106.9, that means that energy prices were 6.9 percent higher in 1999 than they averaged in 1982-1984.
In the NewYork/Northern New Jersey/Long Island region, the Bureau of
Labor Statistics says that energy prices rose 9 percent from May to
June 2008. During that same time period in 2007, they rose 3.9
percent. In the ten years prior to 2008, the May-June energy price
increases in the NY/NJ/LI region averaged 3.76 percent, close to the
increase in 2007.
What does this tell you that you don't already know? If you pay an
electricity bill, you know prices are rising sharply. It's always a
little dangerous to extrapolate because many unforeseen events can
affect energy prices. But in the short term, it's probably a good idea
to raise the temperature on your air conditioner a couple of degrees so
you can lower your electricity bill a bit and start saving for higher
heating oil prices this winter.
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