U.S. Electricity-Price Inflation Shows No Sign of Cooling Off

U.S. consumers continue to face the biggest jump in their energy bills in more than a decade, with the price of electricity in November rising 6.5% from the same month a year ago, according to numbers released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That matches the spike last month, when U.S. consumers saw the biggest jump in their energy bills since 2009 as the weather started to cool. The monthly report shows that overall inflation is running at the fastest pace in almost 40 years, as surging prices for food, energy and other goods erode paychecks.

Consumers paid 25% more to utilities for natural gas and fuel oil prices jumped 59%. Propane, kerosene and firewood jumped 34%, according to the data. As with electricity, those increases are comparable to the spikes seen in the October report.

bloomberg