In July, gasoline cost, on average, $3.23 per gallon in the U.S. That compares with $2.27 per gallon in July 2020, and it’s the highest price since October 2014. Electricity prices are rising, too. From June 2020 to May 2021, the average cost of electricity for industrial customers was $0.0689 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). That compares with $0.0673 per kWh from June 2019 to May 2020.
The latter increase may not seem like much, but consider this: According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a manufacturing facility consumes, on average, 95.1 kWh per square foot each year. Thus, an increase of just $0.0016 per kWh translates to $30,432 over the course of a year for a 200,000 square foot assembly plant. That’s enough to hire an entry-level assembler or buy a small cobot.