Gasoline prices averaged $2.326 per gallon in the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island area in May 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli noted that gasoline prices were down $0.452 compared to last May when area households paid $2.778 per gallon. Electricity prices averaged 17.7 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), down from the 19.2 cents per kWh paid in May 2015. The average price of utility (piped) gas, at $0.898 per therm, was also lower than last May’s price of $0.980. (Data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year-analysis is used throughout.)

At $2.326 a gallon, the price of gasoline in the New York area was close to the $2.324 national average in May 2016. A year earlier, consumers in the New York area paid $2.778, similar to the national average of $2.832. For the past five years, the local price of a gallon of gasoline has been within 3 percent of the national average in the month of May. (See chart 1.)

The 17.7 cents per kWh New York households paid for electricity in May 2016 was 33 percent more than the national average of 13.3 cents per kWh. From 2012 to 2016, local area electricity prices in May exceeded the nationwide average by 33 to 51 percent. (See chart 2.)

The average price paid in May 2016 by New York area consumers for utility (piped) gas, commonly referred to as natural gas, was 89.8 cents per therm, close to the national average of 87.7 cents per therm. A year earlier, area consumers paid 5 percent more than the national average for a therm of natural gas, and from 2012 to 2014, the per-therm cost for natural gas in May exceeded the national average by as much as 21 percent. (See chart 3.)

The New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Conn.-Pa. Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) consists of Bronx, Dutchess, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties in New York State; Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren Counties in New Jersey; Fairfield County and parts of Litchfield, Middlesex, and New Haven Counties in Connecticut; and Pike County in Pennsylvania.

The Consumer Price Index for June 2016 is scheduled to be released on Friday, July 15, 2016 at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

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.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 800-877-8339.

 

Table 1. Average prices for gasoline, electricity, and utility (piped) gas, New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island and the United States, May 2015 - May 2016, not seasonally adjusted

Year and Month	Gasoline per gallon		Electricity per kWh		Utility (piped) gas per therm
	New York	United States	New York	United States	New York	United States
2015
May	2.778	2.832	0.192	0.137	0.980	0.930
June	2.862	2.889	0.207	0.143	0.977	0.942
July	2.851	2.893	0.201	0.142	0.951	0.933
August	2.683	2.745	0.198	0.142	0.951	0.932
September	2.435	2.463	0.195	0.141	0.944	0.921
October	2.294	2.357	0.185	0.136	0.926	0.909
November	2.246	2.249	0.186	0.134	0.934	0.903
December	2.177	2.125	0.182	0.133	0.865	0.892
2016
January	2.048	2.034	0.186	0.134	0.881	0.898
February	1.904	1.833	0.182	0.134	0.868	0.895
March	1.932	2.021	0.187	0.134	0.963	0.884
April	2.172	2.196	0.188	0.134	0.965	0.879
May	2.326	2.324	0.177	0.133	0.898	0.877