Have a five-room house in Wichita, Kansas? In 1923?

A small interconnection with the grid allowed you to take up to four hundred watts at a time. Not a lot of electricity. 

You paid your utility a dollar if you used ten kilowatt-hours over the course of a month. That's a dime per kilowatt-hour. 

Now that's a little less than what you pay today for a kilowatt-hour in Wichita, about twelve cents. Though a dime was worth a whole lot more back then. 

A dime in 1923 was like $1.39 today. So the cost for a Wichita kilowatt-hour in 1923 was effectively $1.39.

This week's columns have analyzed the brand new Labor Department data on how much American households spent on everything during the year ending June 2015, including electricity.

The semi-annual Consumer Expenditure Survey is the source for understanding Americans' electric bills by region, income, age, urban/rural, etc. The government actually asks many thousands of households each quarter to track every single purchase. The credibility and detail, especially through mining the micro-data, is unequalled. 

How many utility commissioners does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Five. A problem for three-person commissions. Three commissioners to hear testimony on whether changing the bulb is in the public interest. One more commissioner to direct staff to write the decision and order, to screw it in. And a fifth commissioner to hear appeals, as to whether screwing it in is actually least cost.

How many utility rate managers does it take to screw in a light bulb?