Gasoline prices averaged $2.449 a gallon in the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City area in March 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that area gasoline prices were down $1.103 compared to last March when they averaged $3.552 per gallon. Philadelphia area households paid an average of 15.6 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity in March 2015, nearly unchanged from 15.7 cents per kWh in March 2014. The average cost of utility (piped) gas at $1.092 per therm in March was 10.4 percent below its price of $1.219 per therm a year earlier. (Data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year-analysis is used throughout.)

At $2.449 a gallon, Philadelphia area consumers paid close to the national average of $2.544 a gallon in March 2015. A year earlier, the price for a gallon of gasoline in the Philadelphia area was nearly the same as the national average. In fact, local prices for a gallon of gasoline in March differed by less than 5 percent from the national average from 2011 to 2015. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

 

The 15.6 cents per kWh that Philadelphia households paid for electricity in March 2015 was 14.7 percent higher than the nationwide average cost of 13.6 cents per kWh. Last March, electricity prices in Philadelphia were 16.3 percent higher than the nation. From 2011 to 2013, prices paid by Philadelphia area consumers for electricity in March exceeded the U.S. average by more than 22 percent. (See chart 2.)

 

The price paid by Philadelphia area consumers for utility (piped) gas, commonly referred to as natural gas, was $1.092 per therm in March 2015, 10.9 percent above the national average of $0.985 per therm. Utility (piped) gas prices in the Philadelphia area were also above the national average in March for the previous four years, ranging from 5.6 percent to 23.1 percent higher. (See chart 3.)

 

The Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem Counties in New Jersey; New Castle County in Delaware; and Cecil County in Maryland.

Additional information

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Technical Note

Average prices are estimated from Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for selected commodity series to support the research and analytic needs of CPI data users. Average prices for electricity, utility (piped) gas, and gasoline are published monthly for the U.S. city average, the 4 regions, the 3 population size classes, 10 region/size-class cross-classifications, and the 14 largest local index areas. For electricity, average prices per kilowatt-hour (kWh) are published. For utility (piped) gas, average prices per therm are published. For gasoline, the average price per gallon is published. Average prices for commonly available grades of gasoline are published as well as the average price across all grades.

All eligible prices are converted to a price per normalized quantity. These prices are then used to estimate a price for a defined fixed quantity. The average price per kilowatt-hour represents the total bill divided by the kilowatt-hour usage. The total bill is the sum of all items applicable to all consumers appearing on an electricity bill including, but not limited to, variable rates per kWh, fixed costs, taxes, surcharges, and credits. This calculation also applies to the average price per therm for utility (piped) gas.

Table 1. Average prices for gasoline, electricity, and utility (piped) gas, United States and the Philadelphia area, March 2014-March 2015, not seasonally adjusted

Year and Month	Gasoline per gallon		Electricity per kWh		Utility (piped) gas per therm
	Philadelphia	United States	Philadelphia	United States	Philadelphia	United States
2014
March	$3.552	$3.590	$0.157	$0.135	$1.219	$1.154
April	3.611	3.717	0.156	0.131	1.233	1.137
May	3.671	3.745	0.156	0.136	1.230	1.111
June	3.662	3.750	0.157	0.143	1.233	1.088
July	3.640	3.690	0.159	0.143	1.236	1.093
August	3.433	3.540	0.158	0.143	1.237	1.060
September	3.385	3.463	0.156	0.141	1.144	1.058
October	3.158	3.241	0.154	0.136	1.165	1.033
November	2.899	2.945	0.154	0.134	1.140	1.035
December	2.693	2.618	0.159	0.135	1.146	1.060
2015
January	2.297	2.170	0.159	0.138	1.140	1.036
February	2.300	2.308	0.160	0.138	1.140	1.007
March	2.449	2.544	0.156	0.136	1.092	0.985