BALTIMORE, Md. — During President Biden's State of the Union speech, he addressed the concerns many Americans have over growing inflation.
Inflation is at its highest peak in 40 years. Many people are facing it with their basic expenses, things like food, utilities, and gas for their cars.
The Associated Press reports oil prices have continued to increase during the invasion of Ukraine.
As inflation continues, Biden said getting prices under control is his top priority.
Inflation rose 7.5 percent from January 2021 to January 2022.
Overall energy costs are up more than 26 percent with most of that due to the rising cost of gas.
AAA reports the current average price for a gallon of gas across the country is $3.65 which is up 12 cents from last week.
Here in Maryland the average price per gallon is slightly higher at $3.67. it’s up 9 cents from last week.
Gas is up more than 42 percent year to year with an increase of more than 11 percent from January 2022 to February 2022 alone.
Looking at the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson area, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in January, gas prices averaged $3.307 a gallon.
Area gas prices were up 38.0 percent compared to last January when they averaged $2.397 per gallon.
In January 2022, the cost of gas in the Baltimore area was at $3.307 a gallon, about 5 and a half percent below the national average of three dollars and 50 cents a gallon.
In January 2021, gasoline prices in the Baltimore area were similar to the national average. looking at the prior three Januarys, they found gas prices in Baltimore to be below the u.s. average by about 7.5 percent or less.
Home energy costs also are up.
Baltimore area households paid an average of 13.7 cents per kilowatt hour (KWH) of electricity in January 2022.
It’s up nearly 11.5 percent from January 2021.
The average cost of gas piped into homes for heating is up at about a dollar 60 per therm in January compared to about a dollar 40 per therm last year.
During Biden's state of the union address Tuesday night, the president said what he plans to do to fight the rising rate of inflation.
“One way to fight inflation is to drive down wages and make Americans poor. I think I have a better idea to fight inflation, lower your costs, not your wages folks, that means make more cars than semi-conductors in America. More infrastructure and innovation in America,” Biden said.
These latest energy figures are from January's consumer price index. February's report will be released on March 10th.
