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Of all of these, the persistence of stable or falling fuel costs has been <br /> the most significant factor across the whole time period. The cost of <br /> coal deliveries to electric plants fell by 24 percent between 1982 and <br /> 2002, or at an average annual rate of 1.4 percent per year. Since coal <br /> accounts for between 70 and 75 percent of fossil-fuel generation, the <br /> cost of all fossil-fuel deliveries combined fell by 18 percent over the <br /> 20-year period. <br /> In contrast, oil and natural gas prices are more volatile.FIGURE 3, <br /> which plots the cost of fuel deliveries, shows that both natural gas <br /> and oil prices were significantly higher than average in two different <br /> periods: the early 1980s and since 1999. <br /> Figure 3: Cost of Fuel Deliveries at Generating Plants <br /> 500 <br /> Oil <br /> 400 <br /> Natural as <br /> 300 <br /> 2 All•� <br /> ll F w <br /> y <br /> • • <br /> d 200 <br /> Coal <br /> 100 <br /> 0 <br /> W CO CO CO CO CO CO CO rn CM rn o) CO CO CD CO CO 0) 0 0 0 <br /> 0) 0) 0) 0) 0) O) 0) O) 0) 0) 0) 0) CO 0) O) 0) 0) 0) N N <br /> 4 Electricity Price Trends <br />