Switchgear prices hit a record in September 2026, up 12.4% on the year

The Bureau of Labor Statistics producer price index for switchgear, switchboard apparatus and industrial controls rose 1.0% in September 2026 to 433.602, the highest since the series began in January 1947. A producer price index tracks the prices U.S. producers receive for what they sell.

This one covers the circuit breakers, switchboards, panelboards and motor controls that take power from a utility feed and distribute it through a building, a plant or a data center. September's reading is 12.4% above September 2025 and 11.0% above December 2025. BLS released it on October 15, and it is preliminary.

01Switchgear prices rose in eight of the nine months of 2026

The index has risen in eight of the nine months of 2026. The largest monthly gain of the past year came in April, at 3.2%, and August added 2.2%. September's 12.4% gain on the year is the largest since February 2026, when it reached 13.4%. Gains on the year were larger in 2022, when the index rose 22.1% in the twelve months to August 2022.

The transformer index, which covers power and distribution transformers and the regulators that hold voltage steady, was unchanged in September at 434.493. That matches its record, set in August. It stood 7.6% above September 2025.

Most of that gain came in two months: the index rose 3.8% in October 2025 and 4.2% in July 2026, and it moved by less than 0.6% in each of the other ten months. Its gains on the year were far larger in 2022, reaching 41.1% in the twelve months to April 2022.

02Switchgear except relays and ducts led with a 16.4% gain on the year

BLS publishes indexes for the products inside the group. All four below reached records in September.

• Switchgear excluding relays and ducts rose 0.7% to 277.684. It was 16.4% above a year earlier, the largest gain on the year of the indexes here, and 133.2% above January 2019.
• Switchgear and switchboard apparatus, the wider class that includes panelboards, rose 0.5% to 259.181, 12.8% above September 2025.
• Low voltage panelboards and distribution boards, rated 1,000 volts or less, rose 0.5% to 181.130. Their 6.2% gain on the year is about half that of the group.
• Industrial controls and related parts, which BLS divides into general-purpose controls, specific-purpose controls, and parts and motor-control accessories, rose 1.8% to 397.636, the largest monthly gain of the group, and 11.7% above a year earlier.

On the transformer side, the index for other transformers and transformer parts was unchanged at 245.610. It stood 2.5% above September 2025 and below its December 2025 high of 247.039.

For comparison, the BLS index for copper and brass mill shapes, the rod, bar, sheet and tube that U.S. mills sell, rose 30.0% in the year to September 2026, to a record 835.342. The seven equipment indexes in the table rose between 2.5% and 16.4% over the same twelve months. The price indexes do not show how much of a finished product's price comes from its metal.

03Switchgear except relays and ducts stands at 233.2 against 100 in January 2019

Rebased to January 2019, switchgear except relays and ducts stands at 233.2, so its price index has more than doubled in under eight years. Transformers stand at 188.9, industrial controls at 170.6 and panelboards at 170.1. Transformers rose fastest in 2021 and 2022, and switchgear has risen faster since.

04The October 15 release lowered the August switchgear index by 0.21%

The October 15 release lowered the August switchgear group index from 430.247 to 429.326, a revision of 0.21%, and the switchboard apparatus index from 258.746 to 257.867, a revision of 0.34%. The transformer index for July and August did not change. September's 1.0% gain is measured from the revised August value.

06The index rose from 385.916 in September 2025 to 433.602 in September 2026