Household Electricity Bills Skyrocket

Obama in 2008: “Under my plan… electricity rates will necessarily skyrocket.”

By Dennis Cauchon

Electric bills have skyrocketed in the last five years, a sharp reversal from a quarter-century when Americans enjoyed stable power bills even as they used more electricity.

Households paid a record $1,419 on average for electricity in 2010, the fifth consecutive yearly increase above the inflation rate, a USA TODAY analysis of government data found. The jump has added about $300 a year to what households pay for electricity. That’s the largest sustained increase since a run-up in electricity prices during the 1970s.

Electricty is consuming a greater share of Americans’ after-tax income than at any time since 1996 — about $1.50 of every $100 in income at a time when income growth has stagnated, a USA TODAY analysis of Bureau of Economic Analysis data found.

Read the rest at USA Today.

 

26 Responses to Household Electricity Bills Skyrocket

  1. NEIL F. AGWD/BSD December 16, 2011 at 7:20 am #

    I have mixed feelings on this one. My opinion is that the overwhelming resistance to coal is because of the release of CO2, and the belief that this will cause, or is causing AGW. I know for a fact that CO2 is not causing AGW and I have outlined why I believe that in previous posts so I won’t delve into that now. But I am concerned about the actual pollutants that are released by burning coal, the worst one being the mercury. Unless there is a way to scrub the pollutants from the emissions, I’m afraid that I don’t have a huge problem with shutting down coal burning plants. That said, I am sceptical of the claims made by environmentalists about the dangers, and the amounts of pollution from it. But all that I can find on the subject of burning coal are negative articles. So like I said, mixed feelings.

  2. joe December 17, 2011 at 1:26 am #

    If in doubt, state your feelings. Mercury is natural, in water, ground, fire pits etc. simply not correct to say only in coal burning plants. Lived in a valley 60 years ago. Coal burning in the stove in the basement, and yes we had an “Ice-box.” Average age of death? 80 years. Give or take two years? In those days, people said they died of old age! It must have been that damned coal!

    • NEIL F. AGWD/BSD December 17, 2011 at 9:02 pm #

      Well, Joe the amounts of coal burned at the residences in your vally were miniscule amounts compared to what a power plant burns. Poison is in the dose, not nccessarily the substance. Besides mercury there are VOC’s (Volitile Organic Compunds), particulates, and other chemicals released that are not good for people or wildlife. I am sceptical about the levels of danger that are put forth by environmentalists, but the fact remains that there are dangers to burning coal. It is obviously not harmless. So unless they find a way to remove those chemicals from the coal emissions I am all for closing them down in favor of natural gas burning plants. And that is going to cost money. A lot of it too.

  3. NEIL F. AGWD/BSD December 17, 2011 at 11:29 pm #

    http://notrickszone.com/2011/12/17/german-climate-and-energy-experts-to-publish-controversial-new-book-rejects-climate-alarmism-calls-to-reopen-debate/
    “The book Die kalte Sonne, Warum die Klimakatastophe nicht stattfindet (The Cold Sun, Why The Climate Catastrophe Is Not Taking Place) seriously challenges global warming alarmism.”

    “In short, being trained scientists, they noticed stark contradictions between model projections and real-life observations. Nothing matched up, something was wrong with the science, the models, and the IPCC. They explain it in detail in the book and in layman’s terms.”

    Being trained scientists, they noticed stark contradictions between model projections and real-life observations? That’s funny I noticed the same thing, and I am not a trained scientist. Hmmm. This is why I claim the title BSD. (Male bovine excrement detector).

  4. Joe December 20, 2011 at 7:32 pm #

    Excellent Neil! Love your “Title.” Merry Christmas! I’m not PC.

    • NEIL F. AGWD/BSD December 20, 2011 at 10:20 pm #

      Thanks Joe, I have a natural talent. It’s called the smell test! You can tell by the smell. Is what I always say.

    • NEIL F. AGWD/BSD December 21, 2011 at 6:49 am #

      I consider it politically incorrect to say “Happy Holidays”. The holidays are Chistmas, and New Years. And our Jewish friends are celebrating Hanika (spelling? I’m not Jewish so I don’t know how to spell it.) Anyway, those are the main ones. New Years does not happen on the same day as Christmas, and Hanika is like a little over a week long. They say you should say “Happy Holidays” as to not offend anyone, but I think it is offensive to just mix them all together like that. So, I say “Merry Chistmas”, and if they say they are Jewish, I say “well Happy Hanika then”. And if they say they don’t celebrate either, I say “well then you have a nice day!” It’s all really rather simple.

  5. Rob N. Hood December 21, 2011 at 8:00 am #

    Leave it to u guys to take an inoffensive and even age old common pleasantry and turn it into an affronatary to your “well developed” sense of right and wrong. It’s reverse PC, which makes it PC. Sorry- I just can’t help it. You guys scream out for critiques.

    • NEIL F. AGWD/BSD December 21, 2011 at 7:43 pm #

      What are you talking about? It used to be an age old common pleasantry until the assault on Christmas began, and beurocracies, and schools, and other entities of the Left began issuing edicts that said thou may not say “Merry Christmas” At that point it became PC. And “Us guys” didn’t make it that way. It was “U guys”

  6. Rob N. Hood December 21, 2011 at 3:42 pm #

    The Congress just passed – and Obama signed – a bipartisan bill that could result in the indefinite detention of American citizens on US soil.

    Is FOX opposing it as a violation of various provisions of the Constitution?

    Of course not. They are too busy stoking the coals of phantom victimhood among their viewing audience.

    Making people feel persecuted – instead of informing them about the difficult public policy decisions that are made in a democracy – increases ratings and advertising dollars.

    There is no “War on Christmas,” but there is one on our constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties.

    • Dan McGrath December 21, 2011 at 3:52 pm #

      Fox has covered the detention bill. We’ve been looking into it ourselves, but that isn’t the purpose of this site.

      • NEIL F. AGWD/BSD December 21, 2011 at 7:47 pm #

        Geez! I’ve been saying that for years!

  7. Joe December 21, 2011 at 10:45 pm #

    Merry Christmas to all!

  8. NEIL F. AGWD/BSD December 22, 2011 at 6:29 am #

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8960701/Climategate-police-raid-home-of-blogger-in-UEA-stolen-emails-probe.html
    “Police investigating the alleged theft of thousands of emails from the university at the centre of the “climategate” scandal have raided the home of a Roger Tattersall in Leeds.

    Officers seized computers from the home of Roger Tattersall, who writes under the pseudonym TallBloke as part of inquiries into leaks of emails between climate scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA).

    The university’s home force, Norfolk Police led the operation, assisted by officers from the Metropolitan Police and West Yorkshire on Wednesday.”

  9. Rob N. Hood December 22, 2011 at 8:02 am #

    I was MERELY juxtapositioning my post above vis a vis the victimization of Christmas and its ugly cousin PC already posted by others. So sooorrry. Not. And re: Neil’s post above, I am all for openess and against secrets. Today’s whistleblowers are being actively hunted down more relentessly than ever before. The elite are simply becoming stronger and more bold by the year.

    • NEIL F. AGWD/BSD December 22, 2011 at 2:05 pm #

      This guy is not the whistleblower. He’s just a guy that recieved a link from the climategate whistleblower on his blog. Do you think it is ok for him to get raided by the cops, and his computers and router to be confiscated just because someone sent him an email? They could have gotten the same info from his ISP’s servers. This is intimidation, and a wreckless abuse of power. But hey, all in the name of openess……right?

      • Rob N. Hood December 23, 2011 at 8:04 am #

        Neil- we do not disagree on this. For crying out loud, instead of knee-jerk arguing, look instead sometimes, espcially if it’s right there, for agreement. Or not, whatever.

        • NEIL F. AGWD/BSD December 24, 2011 at 10:37 pm #

          Sorry. It sounded like you ok with “Today’s whistleblowers are being actively hunted down more relentessly than ever before.” I just assumed that because we do disagree on lot’s of things. My bad!

  10. Joe December 22, 2011 at 9:43 pm #

    I guess we could be next?

  11. Rob N. Hood December 23, 2011 at 10:56 am #

    “The masses indulge in petty falsehood every day, but it would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths and they are not able to believe in the possibility of such monstrous effrontery… The bigger the lie, therefore, the more likely it is to believed…”

  12. Joe December 23, 2011 at 11:17 pm #

    Nice cut and paste. Read it well years ago. Have a Merry Christmas!

  13. NEIL F. AGWD/BSD December 24, 2011 at 10:37 pm #

    Merry Christmas everyone.

  14. Rob N. Hood December 26, 2011 at 6:07 pm #

    Happy Hollandaise

  15. Rob N. Hood January 4, 2012 at 10:21 am #

    NEW YORK — For the first time, the top export of the United States, the world’s biggest gas guzzler, is – wait for it – fuel.

    Measured in dollars, the nation is on pace this year to ship more gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel than any other single export, according to U.S. Census data going back to 1990. It will also be the first year in more than 60 that America has been a net exporter of these fuels.

    Just how big of a shift is this? A decade ago, fuel wasn’t even among the top 25 exports. And for the last five years, America’s top export was aircraft.

    What? I thought Obama was “communistically” crushing our ability to squeeze out the last drop…

  16. Rob N. Hood January 8, 2012 at 8:56 am #

    Or… we continue to mainly use other supplies, elsewhere, while logically hoarding or own for when we really need it.

  17. Rob N. Hood January 9, 2012 at 8:10 am #

    for WWIII for example…

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