Energy as the new eggs: How power prices are scrambling the economy
Every year, keeping your ear to the ground of power sector conversations illuminates a major overarching theme. In 2026, the focus is undoubtedly on affordability.
I’m certainly not breaking news here. This situation has been reaching a fever pitch, paired with an increasingly common refrain: energy prices are the new egg prices (as a marker of the state of the economy). But what exactly is meant by this comparison?
Over the decades, modern economies have come to be defined by certain commodities. In the lead-up to the 2024 elections, the cost of a carton of eggs was used as a microcosm for the strain the common family was feeling: Politicians had to speak directly on eggs, parodies targeted them, and fingers were pointed.
But eggs weren’t the first commodity to be treated with such fervor, which compelled me to ask: What can we learn if we trace those key household price indicators that defined specific eras? And how might those apply to the energy sector today?
The characteristics for these economic barometers were products or commodities that 1) were easy to understand 2) tangible, and 3) naturally part of daily lives. In the end, each era has its own ‘egg.’
The eggs of each era
1930s and 1940s:
From the Great Depression through World War II, the anchor prices for families were bread, milk, and sugar. Interestingly, what started in the 1930s as a symbol for dire economic conditions transitioned to more of a wartime duty of rationing in the 1940s. These commodities were truly the basic staples, but whether for economics or patriotic obligation, families learned to do without.
1970s
Post-World War II brought unprecedented economic boom, lasting until some major events in the 1970s:
An oil crisis caused by geopolitical turmoil (sounds familiar)
Unprecedented growth in mortgage rates (that resonates as well...)
And a period known as the Great Inflation that resulted in aggregate groceries increasing by 20% (hey, wait a minute!)
These economic indicators were the first sign that perhaps that unlimited, consequence-free growth (suburban life as the unfettered American Dream) would eventually reach some roadblocks. But families weren’t ‘doing without’ this time. Instead, they were begrudgingly adopting the higher prices as the new normal.