Affordability Matters Blog

By Keven J. Groenewold

Consumers are adding more plugged-in devices daily, and are paying more for their convenience. The average annual residential electric bill has soared $263 since 2005, with electricity use outpacing efficiency efforts. Despite the rescent recession, U.S. homes on average used an additional 50 kilowatt-hours (kWh) every month between 2009 and 2010; retail electricity sales rose 4.4 percent.

Americans aren’t the only people using more power. As worldwide energy use grows, resource competition and prices shoot up. By 2035, global energy consumption, primairly in China and India, will jump 53 percent from 2008 levels. Read more »

As President Obama sets his second-term agenda, join us in sending a clear message about the importance of affordable electricity to the economy. 

As you and approximately 60,000 other supporters of Keep Electricity Affordable know, the cost of electricity impacts the budget of every home, farm, school and small business. While our national and local economies struggle to recover from the downturn, we don’t need misguided public policies unnecessarily driving up the price of power.

Here is what you can do: Sign this open letter to the President asking him to pursue a comprehensive “all of the above” energy policy and put a stop to mandates that unnecessarily drive up the price of electricity. Click here to add your name, and let the White House know how much you care about keeping electricity affordable.

The Super Bowl blackout almost stymied the Baltimore Ravens’ game plan but it could give a push to the nation’s discussion of energy issues.
 
That’s the view of U.S. Sen.  Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who said the 33 minutes when the Superdome went dark could shed light on how much we all rely on electricity. 
 
“I think it helps to perhaps kick-start the debate,” she said, according to The Hill newspaper.
  Read more »

This recent radio spot by the New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau outlines the importance of affordable electricity – not only for our home use, but also for the farmers who help feed our country.

Electricity can be a huge expenditure for farmers and ranchers – so if energy costs escalate unnecessarily our food prices could rise too. Unaffordable electricity caused by unneeded mandates also could threaten the economic well-being of some family farms. 

UPDATED 2/3/2013 at 8:20 PM We don't think much about reliable electricity until we don't have it. We learned during Super Bowl XLVII that we can't afford to take it for granted. From national pleasures like football to national necesities like farming and small business, electricity power our lives.

The quarterbacks aren’t the only things powering the teams in the Super Bowl; electricity plays a big role in the biggest sporting event of the year.

The Super Bowl typically uses 50 million kilowatts of electricity to power the stadium where the Ravens and 49ers will play and to light up the TVs at home for more than 111 million worldwide viewers.  

So how much electricity is that? A lot. 2011’s Super Bowl XLV in Dallas, for example, used enough energy in the stadium to power 1,500 homes for a year. 

Here’s the list of what was plugged in to reach that number:  Read more »