Let’s be honest: probably not. (Unless, perhaps, it was this gourmet bean that cats digest first.) You’d take matters into your own hands and finally start brewing your coffee at home, like you’d always intended.
The good news is that the average cup of coffee doesn’t cost $6.50 today, nor will it 20 years from now. But it might if coffee prices increased at the same rate as some homeowners’ electricity bills.
The average price of a brewed coffee in the U.S. is $2.38 today.* If prices continue to go up at the same rate they have over the previous 20 years (2.09% per year, approximately the same rate as inflation), that same cup of coffee will cost about $3.50 in 2035.
Imagine now that the price of coffee increased at the same rate as some homeowners’ electricity bills. Take Maryland, for example, where the price of electricity has increased at an average rate of 5.49% per year over the previous 10 years.** At that rate of increase, a cup of coffee that’s $2.38 today would cost $6.50 in 2035.
What would that extra 3% rate increase cost you over the years? For those people whose morning cup of joe is as necessary as breathing, that amounts to spending over $10,000 more between now and 2035.
So when PG&E recently announced a rate increase that added $5.23 to the average homeowner’s monthly bill, or when National Grid issued winter utility bills that were 37% higher than last year’s, why didn’t their customers switch to another electricity provider?
That’s because many Americans don’t have a choice about their electricity provider – their utility is the only option.
Or, we should say, didn’t have a choice – until now. Home solar energy now offers many homeowners a predictable and sometimes cheaper way to generate electricity, right at home. It’s like being able to lock in the price of coffee at $2.38 for the next twenty years and using the thousands you save for a vacation to Hawaii.
Don’t take our word for it. Research your options to find the best electricity provider for you. The beauty of solar is that you now have the freedom to choose.
Click here to find out if Sungevity serves your state. Visit the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) website to learn more about electricity rates in your state. Have other questions? Let us know in the comments below.
* Average price of a cup of coffee taken from Coffee Statistics 2015.
** Data taken from the EIA’s Electric Power Monthly, “Average Retail Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers”, in December 2004 and September 2014. Electricity rates vary by state and utility. Visit the EIA website for more information.
Updated March 11, 2015 to incorporate the current average price of brewed coffee.
