Residential Electricity Prices Increase Nationwide

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), national retail residential electricity prices for the first half of 2014 averaged 12.3 cents per kilowatt hour, a 3.2% increase from the same period last year.  In the New England States, rates increased 11.8%, which was the largest increase among U.S. regions.  EIA attributes the region’s high rates primarily to a sharp rise in wholesale power prices, noting that the region’s average day-ahead wholesale power price of $93 per megawatt hour was 45% more than it was the year before. Average retail prices in the Pacific region decreased 2.5% due to a one-time credit Californian’s received from the funds raised through the state’s greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade system.  Excluding the credit, the region’s rates increased 0.9%.