Rising Natural Gas Prices Make Electricity More Expensive Nationwide

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

July 23, 2013 | 11:29 AM

Average wholesale electricity prices jumped in the first half of 2013 compared to 2012, according to the Energy Information Administration. The EIA reports that the increase is linked to the rising price of natural gas, which has gone up 40 percent to 60 percent this year compared to the first six months of 2012. The price jump for natural gas was caused by colder winter temperatures, lower production, and reduced storage inventories.

courtesy of the Energy Information Administration

“Average on-peak, day-ahead wholesale electricity prices rose in every region of the Lower 48 states in first-half 2013 compared to first-half 2012. The most important factor was the rise in the price of natural gas in 2013 compared to 10-year lows in April 2012. However, the increase in power prices was not uniform across markets as regional natural gas supply issues drove larger increases in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest.” — EIA