$1 out of every $250 of expenditures is spent on natural gas
Natural gas bills were 0.40 percent of Americans' consumption expenditures in 2015.
In other words, one dollar out of every two hundred and fifty dollars of expenditures is spent on gas. Not that much.
Indeed, this percentage in 2015 was the lowest in any year since the Commerce Department started tracking expenditures in 1959.
Only 2012 had a percentage as low as 0.40. Natural gas bills were 0.45 percent of expenditures in 2013, and 0.47 percent in 2014.
As recently as 2008, natural gas bills were 0.68 percent of expenditures. So they've fallen from 0.68 percent to 0.40 percent in the last few years.
The highest year was 1983. In that year, natural gas bills were a whopping 1.28 percent of expenditures. That's over three times the current level of 0.40.
It's problematic to compare over long time periods the percentage of expenditures spent on natural gas bills. This is because the proportion of households that heat their homes with natural gas has changed over time.
Utility-served natural gas heated 48.5 percent of occupied households in 2014.
Short term comparisons demonstrate that natural gas is now clearly economical. For instance, natural gas bills were 0.35 percent, 0.35 percent, 0.27 percent, 0.37 percent and 0.40 percent of expenditures in January, February, March, April and May 2016 respectively. Each of these percentages were below that in January, February, March, April and May of the preceding year, 2015.
What percentage of the expenditures of households that heat their homes with natural gas goes to pay gas bills? We said gas bills are 0.40 percent of Americans' consumption expenditures. And we said that about half of all households, 48.5 percent, heat their homes with gas.
Let's make the simplifying assumption that the other half of all households, who heat their homes without natural gas, pay nothing for gas. If they get gas for cooking they get it for free. Good deal for them.
Then, with this assumption, the natural gas bills of the half of all households that heat their homes with gas take around 0.80 percent of expenditures.
That's still fairly low. Like one dollar out of every hundred and twenty-five dollars of expenditures.
As the magazine for commentary, opinion and debate on electric and natural gas utility regulation and policy, Public Utilities Fortnightly fosters vigorous arguments on many of the most contentious energy issues of our day.
Steve Mitnick, Editor-in-Chief, Public Utilities Fortnightly
E-mail me: mitnick@fortnightly.com
