Better news on electric bill affordability comes from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In January, residential electric bills were just 1.29 percent of Americans’ personal consumption expenditures in total. That’s lower than in January of 2018, when electricity was 1.40 percent, and lower than in January 2019, when electricity was 1.32 percent.
However, it was higher than in January 2020, when electricity was at an all-time low, at 1.17 percent. This is a direct result of our pandemic world.
From January 2020 to January 2021, Americans’ personal consumption expenditures in total fell by 0.43 percent. But residential electric bills rose by as much as 9.46 percent.
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