Below are the monthly updates from the most current April 2020 fuel price data (GasBuddy.com) and February 2020 electricity and natural gas price data (US Energy Information Agency). To view additional data and analysis related to the California economy visit our website at www.centerforjobs.org/ca.

Fuel prices in April softened substantially as oil prices reflected continuing competition within OPEC for market share coming at the same time as the collapse in world demand. Households and consuming businesses consequently saw some benefits from lower prices, but with the effects limited as businesses shut down and many workers and their families sheltered in place. For the producing regions along with related refining, transportation, and support centers—including those within California—the resulting reduction in higher wage jobs and incomes as producers have cut back their operations creates yet another challenge in the upcoming restart and recovery period.

And while fuel prices are lower, they are far lower in the rest of the country. California energy prices overall remain some of the highest in the nation as result of the state’s energy regulations. Gasoline prices were more than twice as high as the lowest cost state in April, while commercial electricity rates in February remained the 3rd highest, industrial rates the 5th highest, and residential rates the 7th highest. Industrial natural gas prices are 134% higher than the average for the rest of the country.

For employers, these regulation-driven prices mean fewer cash resources to bring back employees than in other parts of the country. For households, these prices mean paying more directly for the utilities component of housing costs, more directly for transportation, and more indirectly as business costs for fuel and utilities get driven into higher prices for goods and services. Even as wages and incomes recover, these higher costs mean many households will continue to lag behind those in other states in being able to stay ahead of the cost curve.

The degree of the regulation-created cost barriers in the pending recovery period is shown in the following table, which compares energy prices between California and the rest of the US (US average in 2009 for gasoline and diesel) at the beginning of recovery during the Great Recession and for the most recent data. As in the data below, natural gas and electricity prices are 12-month moving averages, and gasoline and diesel are monthly averages.

The regulation-created cost barriers for energy were far lower as California businesses began to recover during the Great Recession in 2009. Residential and commercial natural gas prices were even lower within the state. As energy regulations subsequently expanded with little attention paid to the compounding and cumulative costs, these regulatory differentials have spiked and now present a far greater competitive challenge to recovery by businesses, and a growing cost of living burden for households.

Average prices ($ per thousand cubic feet) for the 12 months ended February 2020 and changes from the previous 12-month period for each end user:

Note: All data sources, methodologies and historical data series available at centerforjobs.org/ca