Report: Better mpg, switch in fuels means lower expense

Better fuel efficiencies and a change in fuels used for home heating means most people are spending less on energy than before, the U.S. Energy Department said.

"Because electricity and transportation spending accounts for more than two-thirds of consumer energy expenditures, increasing vehicle fuel efficiencies and changing fuels used for home heating have contributed to lower consumer energy expenditures relative to disposable income," the department's Energy Information Administration said Tuesday.

Edmunds.com said the average new vehicle sold in January got 24.9 miles per gallon of gasoline, an increase of nearly 5 mpg from October 2007. The number of consumers using natural gas has increased more than 3 percent from 2007.

EIA said consumer energy expenditures as a percent of disposable income was lower last year than the average in the 1960s despite the rate of inflation.

The report found, however, that energy prices have been more volatile than overall prices for consumer goods.