|
Average Cost
The Federal Trade Commission's Appliance Labeling Program, mandated by Section 324 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) of 1975, as amended by several other acts, requires the disclosure of energy efficiency or cost information on labels and in retail sales catalogs for most types of appliances, including central air conditioners (including heat pumps), furnaces, water heaters, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, direct heating equipment, kitchen ranges and ovens, pool heaters and window air conditioners.
As part of the labeling program, the Department of Energy is required to set forth the representative average unit energy costs for residential energy sources and to periodically revise this information. The current revision became effective on March 11, 2005. The table below contains the required information.
| Energy Form: |
In Common Terms: |
$/per million Btu1 |
| Electricity |
9.06 cents/kWh2 |
$26.65 |
| Natural Gas |
$1.092/therm
(or $11.23/thousand cubic feet3) |
$10.92 |
| No. 2 Heating Oil |
$1.76/gallon |
$12.98 |
| Propane |
$1.55/gallon |
$16.94 |
| Kerosene |
$2.20/gallon |
$16.32 |
1 Btu stands for 1 British thermal unit, a standard energy value.
2 Kilowatt hour
3 One therm is equivalent to 100,000 Btu.
|
