The home of the future, from the perspective of 1939

Microwave ovens, electrical appliances, VCRs/DVRs, heat pumps . . .

The Precipitron, however, eliminates more than ninety-five per cent of such air-borne particles by charging them with electricity and then drawing them off to oppositely charged collector plates. Housewives will appreciate what this means in keeping rugs and curtains clean.”

And good old-fashioned sexism. Honey, make me a sandwich.

However,

Alas, they didn’t get everything right:

“In 1928 the average residential power user consumed 460 kilowatt-hours of current a year and paid an average of six and six-tenths cents per kilowatt-hour. In 1938 he used 850 kilowatt-hours and paid only four and two-tenths cents per kilowatt-hour. This saving has been made possible by increased efficiency in the production and distribution of electric power…..Against the reality of such figures and achievements, one dares not place any limits on the possibilities of electricity in the future.”

I think maybe the Great Depression might have had an effect on the costs, too. According to the westegg inflation calculator, in the US, a product costing 7 cents in 1939 (or 9 cents in 1928) would cost a dollar today. So what’s the problem? Residential electricity today is about ten cents per kWh. The cost has generally gone down over time. There’s a graph here from 1960 onward (figure 3, in year 2000 dollars). I’m not seeing the wrongness of the claim, except for using kWh for current.