The Labor Department just published December's Consumer Price Index. The CPI for all consumer goods and services was up 2.1 percent from the prior December. The CPI for residential electric service was up 0.7 percent.
The wide gap between the CPI for all goods and services and for electric service, 1.4 percent, means the real price for electricity fell significantly.
The fall in the real price for electricity is clearer when we look regionally.
The CPI for all consumer goods and services in the South was up 2.0 percent from the prior December. That's close to the national number.
But the CPI for electric service in the South was down 1.1 percent. That's well below the national number.
The South's gap between the CPI for all goods and services and for electric service, a gap of 3.1 percent, means the real price for electricity fell quite dramatically.
The CPI for all consumer goods and services in the Midwest was up 1.8 percent from the prior December. That's a little less than the national number.
But the CPI for electric service in the Midwest was not up or down, at 0.0 percent. That's well below the national number.
The Midwest's gap between the CPI for all goods and services and for electric service, a gap of 1.8 percent, means the real price for electricity fell dramatically.
The CPI for all consumer goods and services in the Northeast was up 1.9 percent from the prior December. That's a very little less than the national number.
But the CPI for electric service in the Northeast was up 0.5 percent. That's a bit below the national number.
The Northeast's gap between the CPI for all goods and services and for electric service, a gap of 1.4 percent, means the real price for electricity fell significantly.
These gaps between the CPI for all goods and services and for electric service were greater than nationally in the South and Midwest. And the gaps were the same nationally and in the Northeast. How is all that possible?
It's possible because the gap was quite negative in the thirteen-state West.
The CPI for all consumer goods and services in the West was up 2.5 percent from the prior December. That's somewhat more than the national number.
But the CPI for electric service in the West was up by 5.1 percent. That's well above the national number.
The West's gap between the CPI for all goods and services and for electric service, a gap of minus 2.6 percent, means the real price for electricity rose rather than fell in this one region. But for the West, the national numbers would have been even better for consumers.
Number-crunching courtesy of the magazine for commentary, opinion and debate on utility regulation and policy since 1928, Public Utilities Fortnightly.
