May 24, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Steep increase in energy prices again in 2000

Energy prices paid by consumers increased 14.2 percent in 2000, up from a 13.4-percent increase during 1999.

[Chart data—TXT]

The price of energy has been volatile in the past 5 years. A price rise of 8.6 percent in 1996 was followed by price declines of 3.4 percent and 8.8 percent in 1997 and in 1998, which were followed in turn by the double-digit price increases of 1999 and 2000.

Some of the price hike in 2000 was the result of a jump in natural gas prices. The natural gas price increase of 36.7 percent in 2000 was the largest annual increase since the BLS began keeping records in 1935.

During 1999 and 2000, prices of crude oil and two of its products, gasoline and household fuel, also moved sharply higher. Gasoline price increases slowed to 13.9 percent in 2000, from a 30.1-percent rise during the prior year. Household fuel oil prices rose 40.5 percent in 2000, the largest annual increase since 1979, and followed a 30.9-percent increase in 1999.

The BLS Consumer Price Index program produces these data. For additional information on consumer price changes, see "Consumer inflation higher in 2000," by Todd Wilson, Monthly Labor Review, April 2001. Annual percent changes are December-to-December changes.