This is a research activity for an 8th grade Physical Science.  The class will be studying electricity, and, to add some relevancy to the class, I want the students to start thinking about the current electricity crisis in California.

I spent 3-4 hours trying to find electricity prices on the internet TO NO AVAIL!  I looked under Google and Dogpile under every combination of  key words I could think of and could not get a price history on electrics rates.  Finally, I went through my own bills and took the price data off of them.  I guess the energy providers want to make analysis of their data a difficult project.  I was surprised that the California Energy Commission had no price data either. The kids would have to get the data from their parents, or write to SDG&E, unless some genius can find the information on the web (I still think it must be there somewhere).

See my data and charts.  I used a line graph to show continuity.  I wanted to show price change over time.  The first chart has a different line for each year.  The second had one continuous line for the whole time frame.  I think the second chart is more instructive because you can see the change over time more clearly.

Inquiry based questions:

1.  How is electricity measured?
Answer- by kilowatt hour.  Discussion of what that is exactly.

2.  Is there a trend in electricity prices?  If so, what is it?
Answer - electric prices in the past year have risen sharply and then have dropped back down  over the summer of 2001.

3.  What are the causes of these price changes?
Answer - Supply + demand.  Too little electricity for too many people wanting to use it.  Importing electricity from other states.

4.  We experienced rolling blackouts during Dec. 2000 and Jan. 2001.  How does that correlate to the price of electricity?
Answer - Price was highest.  Demand was highest.  Supply was lowest.  Cold winter in states that we import electricity from, and those states needed their own electricity.

5.  What effect do you think California's increasing population will have on electricity prices?  Why?
Answer - Increasing demand.  If supply doesn't increase, higher prices.

6.  If your family uses 500 kWh a month, how much is your highest bill?  Your lowest bill?
Answer - simple math problems, but they show the kids exactly how expensive their family energy bills can be.

7.  Why was July 2001's electric price lower than December 2000's price?
Answer - We had an unexpectedly cool summer, so the anticipated high demand for electricity to power air conditioning didn't materialize.