June 09, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Energy inflation in 2005

Energy inflation was about the same in 2005 as it was during 2004. Energy prices paid by consumers rose 17.1 percent in 2005, compared with 16.6 percent in the previous year.

[Chart data—TXT]

Prices for energy commodities, which mainly include gasoline and home heating (fuel) oil, increased substantially in 2005, but not by as much as they did during 2004. Gasoline prices increased 16.1 percent in 2005, after rising 26.1 percent in 2004. Fuel oil prices rose 27.2 percent last year, after increasing 39.5 percent in 2004.

Energy services charges (piped gas and electricity), however, accelerated significantly in 2005, up 17.6 percent, compared with 6.8 percent in 2004. Natural gas prices rose 30.2 percent, after increasing 16.4 percent in 2004. Supplies of natural gas were short in 2005 following hurricane damage to production platforms, subsea pipelines, and natural gas processing plants. 

Electricity prices increased 10.7 percent in 2005, after rising 2.1 percent in 2004.

These data are from the BLS Consumer Price Index program. Annual percent changes are December-to-December changes. For additional information on consumer price changes in 2005, see "Consumer prices rose 3.4 percent in 2005, about the same as last year," by Todd Wilson, Monthly Labor Review, May 2006.