Phila. region pays more for gas, electricity

Energy consumers in the Philadelphia region paid more last month for gasoline, natural gas and electricity than the national average for metropolitan areas, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks consumer prices.

Gasoline averaged $2.37 a gallon in the Philadelphia/Wilmington/Atlantic City region, 7 percent more than the national average. A year earlier, the price averaged $3.05, 2 percent below the national average.

The premium was even larger for natural-gas customers, who paid $1.70 per therm, 24 percent more than the national average; a year earlier they paid 18 percent more than average.

But the premium fell for electricity customers, who paid an average of 15.7 cents per kilowatt-hour, 28 percent more than the national average. A year earlier, the region's power customers paid a 31 percent premium.