Saturday, September 13, 2014

Since this came up at the last Commission meeting, here are average electricity prices around "the planet"

Statistic: Electricity prices in selected countries in 2013 (in U.S. dollar cents per kilowatt hour) | Statista
Find more statistics at Statista

Commissioner Maxwell made a claim at the 9/9/14 Commission meeting, which he knew was an exaggeration, that Lake Worth had the highest electric rates on "the planet." As a coming video will show, Commissioner McVoy corrected him by saying that "We certainly weren't the highest on the planet. Most other countries are paying at least 30 cent per kilowatt hour. We are paying on the order of 10, 11, 12. They're paying three times more. We are no where near the highest on the planet. Let's not put out information that is just not factual."

I agree. Let's not do that. Italy pays the highest electric rates on the planet and, as the above graph shows, they are around 20 cents per kilowatt hour. That is roughly two times what our rates are, not three. We are higher than the U.S. average, which should not come as a surprise.