Full Report and ISER Research Summary No. 67

Households in remote rural places face utility costs 50% higher now than in 2000. In Anchorage those costs are up 35% and in other large or road-system communities about 39%. The share of household income going to utilities is also up. Utility costs in urban and rural areas are now anywhere from about 3% to 10% of income for the typical household. Those are median figures for all households. Utilities take a much bigger share of income among low-income households. Utility costs now amount to more than a third of income among low-income households in remote places. These are among the findings of an ISER analysis of how rising energy prices have increased utility costs for Alaska households since 2000