Penny on the Dollar

Californians’ residential electric bills averaged just nine-tenths of one percent of all their expenditures on goods and services in the year 2021. 0.91 percent to be precise. Significantly less than a penny on the dollar.

This according to the data used by the U.S. Commerce Department to calculate the Gross Domestic Product.

California’s average was well below the national average, 1.26 percent. Per kilowatt-hour rates are high in California, as compared to other states, but kilowatt-hour consumption is low.

In contrast, Alabamians’ residential electric bills averaged two and a fifth percent of all their expenditures. 2.19 percent to be precise. Which was well above that 1.26 percent national average. Per kilowatt-hour rates are comparatively moderate, but kilowatt-hour consumption is high.

The average annual residential bill was $473 per capita in California and $858 in Alabama. And the average annual expenditures on all goods and services were $51,781 per capita in California and only $39,208 in Alabama.

Some other states like California, where residential electric bills were a small percentage of expenditures on all goods and services, were Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey. In all these states, residential electric bills were around one percent of expenditures on all goods and services. Again, a penny on the dollar.

Some other states like Alabama, where electric bills were a considerably greater percentage of expenditures, were Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Texas. These are generally states with relatively high air conditioning usage per household. And relatively low income, and hence relatively low expenditures on all goods and services per household and per capita.