The Rise of U.S. Energy Costs

With Russia being a major energy supplier, sanctions against the country in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 affected energy prices in Europe, the United States and around the world. At the time, prices had already risen quite a bit in the pandemic-induced high-inflation environment of 2021.

Numbers by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show the price increase of different types of energy in the U.S. over the past four years. Gasoline is the most volatile and saw the biggest increases over the later pandemic period and a big spike at the beginning of the war in Ukraine before hitting an average of $3.35 per gallon again most recently. Natural gas, which is one of the major energy exports of Russia to Europe, cost just over $1.00 in early 2020 for one therm, the approximate average daily consumption of a U.S. household in a warmer climate. The same amount of natural gas was around 35 percent more expensive in Jan 2024 after having inched up close to a price of $2 per therm in early 2023. The average daily electricity use in the U.S. was about 30 percent pricier than four years ago, having shown the most continuous rise.