This summer, electric bills will be larger than ever for many households, analysts are warning, adding to the pain of high inflation and record-high fuel costs.
There are things you can scrimp on, but “you can’t turn off the air conditioner when it’s 102 degrees.”
The most recent estimates from the Energy Information Administration are that electricity prices will rise by a national average of 3.9% this summer compared to last summer. Accounting for reduced use, expenditures will be up 0.9%.
Some regions will be hit especially hard, most notably New England, which relies on natural gas and oil for more than half of its total power supply.
Forecasters are also predicting a dry and scorching summer, when, the EIA report says, residents can expect their power bills to rise by nearly 10%.
Households in the Mid-Atlantic area can expect to see a price increase of roughly 8.4%, meanwhile, households in the South Atlantic will see an estimated 6.5% higher price.
The Gateway Pundit added:
Add to that soaring consumer prices, rent prices that have increased by double digits in most major cities, and gas prices that surpassed $4 per gallon in every U.S. state for the first time in history, and that could change the bills from burdensome to crippling.
According to Fox Business., Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commission sent a notice to its customers earlier this month, warning that “most utilities will be adjusting their prices for electric generation on June 1.” The company said that many of its customers “will see sharp increases in energy costs as summer approaches, ranging between 6% and 45% depending on their electric utility.”
Energy inflation is impacting most Americans, and the summer will bring even more strain on the average family’s budget.
And this summer is expected to be hotter, and drier, than summers prior. And, as the EIA warned when it issued its forecast, prices “could rise significantly above forecast levels if summer temperatures are hotter than assumed in this forecast and electricity demand is higher.”
Sources: Thegatewaypundit, Fox Business
