Now that the hottest month of the year is upon us (and the highest in average energy consumption), business- and homeowners will be little surprised to learn that Connecticut energy-users pay more for electricity, gas, home heating oil and other fuels than their equivalents in any other state.
So says a new survey by the personal-finance website WalletHub, which compared average monthly energy bills in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.
According to the survey formula, which tracks costs of electricity, natural gas, motor fuel and home heating oil, Connecticut consumers face an average monthly energy bill of $373 — the most expensive in the nation. (Least expensive, according to the survey, was the District of Columbia, where consumers averaged $201 monthly on energy of all types.)
The Nutmeg State’s expensive ranking is driven in large part by the cost of electricity here: $154 per month on average — which is No. 3 overall and highest in the continental United States (behind only Hawaii and Alaska).
Connecticut is also the third most expensive state for home heating oil (a monthly average of $55), behind only the District of Columbia and New York State.
The state also ranked No. 14 nationally for the average monthly cost of natural-gas ($41) and No. 39 for monthly average motor-vehicle fuel costs ($123).
To calculate its rankings, WalletHub employed a formula that factored in average monthly costs of electricity, natural gas, home heating oil and motor vehicle fuel measured against their average monthly consumption.
Cost and consumption do not necessarily go hand in hand. For example, Connecticut has among the top ten highest gasoline prices in the nation, but because we are a small state consumers don’t drive as far as they do in larger states. By contrast, Wyoming has relatively inexpensive gasoline, but consumers drive many more miles than their Connecticut counterparts — tops in the nation for average monthly miles driven, and therefore No. 1 in average monthly motor-vehicle fuel costs ($206, compared to Connecticut’s $123).
In the U.S., energy costs eat between 5 and 22 percent of consumers’ total after-tax income, according to WalletHub, with the poorest Americans, or 25 million households, paying the highest of that range.
Contact Michael C. Bingham at mbingham@newhavenbiz.com
