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Wednesday, June 06, 2012

SBE Council Releases “Energy Cost Index 2012”


Today, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) published the “Energy Cost Index 2012: Ranking the States.”

SBE Council chief economist Raymond J. Keating, the author of the report, noted, “High energy costs take a heavy toll on consumers, as well as on businesses of all types and sizes. That is most certainly the case with small businesses that so often operate on very thin margins.”

SBE Council’s “Energy Cost Index 2012” looks at the price of regular gasoline at the pump and the cost of electricity (average revenue per kilowatthour for all sectors).  Each are calculated as indices and combined into one index.  The “Energy Cost Index 2012” provides a bottom line ranking of the 50 states and the District of Columbia on energy prices.

Low-Cost States: At the top – or the lowest cost states – are: 1) Arkansas, 2) Louisiana, 3) Oklahoma, 4t) Iowa, 4t) Kentucky, 6) Missouri, 7) Wyoming, 8) Idaho, 9) North Dakota, 10) Nebraska, 11) Utah, 12) Mississippi, 13t) Alabama, 13t) South Carolina, and 13t) South Dakota.

High-Cost States: At the other end are the highest cost states (including the District of Columbia): 37) Delaware, 38) Michigan, 39) Maryland, 40) District of Columbia, 41) Maine, 42) New Jersey, 43) Rhode Island, 44) Massachusetts, 45) New Hampshire, 46) California, 47) Vermont, 48) New York, 49) Connecticut, 50) Alaska, and 51) Hawaii.

SBE Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan pointed out: “The decisions made by elected officials and their appointees, at the federal and state levels, affect energy costs. Quite simply, if the focus is on higher energy taxes, intrusive regulation, picking winners and losers in the energy market, and creating obstacles to domestic production, the result will be higher energy costs, with negatives resulting for small businesses and their ability to create jobs.”

Keating concluded: “Energy cost differentials between states speak to the competitiveness of each state in terms of attracting and keeping businesses, and how competitive those businesses will be in the marketplace.”

Read the analysis and see where all of the states rank by downloading a copy of the index here: “Energy Cost Index 2012: Ranking the States.”

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