Retail residential electricity prices in the United States have mostly risen over the last decades. In 2023, prices registered a year-over-year growth of 6.3 percent, the highest growth registered since the beginning of the century. Residential prices are projected to continue to grow by two percent in 2024. Drivers of electricity price growth The price of electricity is partially dependent on the various energy sources used for generation, such as coal, gas, oil, renewable energy, or nuclear. In the U.S., electricity prices are highly connected to natural gas prices. As the commodity is exposed to international markets that pay a higher rate, U.S. prices are also expected to rise, as it has been witnessed during the energy crisis in 2022. Electricity demand is also expected to increase, especially in regions that will likely require more heating or cooling as climate change impacts progress, driving up electricity prices. Which states pay the most for electricity? Electricity prices can vary greatly depending on both state and region. Hawaii has the highest electricity prices in the U.S., at roughly 43 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour as of May 2023, due to the high costs of crude oil used to fuel the state’s electricity. In comparison, Idaho has one of the lowest retail rates. Much of the state’s energy is generated from hydroelectricity, which requires virtually no fuel. In addition, construction costs can be spread out over decades.

Electricity prices in Europe are expected to remain volatile through 2025, with Italy projected to have some of the highest rates among major European economies. This trend reflects the ongoing challenges in the energy sector, including the transition to renewable sources and the impact of geopolitical events on supply chains. Despite efforts to stabilize the market, prices still have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, such as in countries like Italy, where prices are forecast to reach ****** euros per megawatt hour in September 2025. Natural gas futures shaping electricity costs The electricity market's future trajectory is closely tied to natural gas prices, a key component in power generation. Dutch TTF gas futures, a benchmark for European natural gas prices, are projected to be ***** euros per megawatt hour in July 2025. The reduced output from the Groningen gas field and increased reliance on imports further complicate the pricing landscape, potentially contributing to higher electricity costs in countries like Italy. Regional disparities and global market influences While European electricity prices remain high, significant regional differences persist. For instance, natural gas prices in the United States are expected to be roughly one-third of those in Europe by March 2025, at **** U.S. dollars per million British thermal units. This stark contrast highlights the impact of domestic production capabilities on global natural gas prices. Europe's greater reliance on imports, particularly in the aftermath of geopolitical tensions and the shift away from Russian gas, continues to keep prices elevated compared to more self-sufficient markets. As a result, countries like Italy may face sustained pressure on electricity prices due to their position within the broader European energy market. As of August 2025, electricity prices in Italy have decreased to ****** euros per megawatt hour, reflecting ongoing volatility in the market.

The retail price for electricity in the United States stood at an average of ***** U.S. dollar cents per kilowatt-hour in 2024. This is the highest figure reported in the indicated period. Nevertheless, the U.S. still has one of the lowest electricity prices worldwide. As a major producer of primary energy, energy prices are lower than in countries that are more reliant on imports or impose higher taxes. Regional variations and sector disparities The impact of rising electricity costs across U.S. states is not uniform. Hawaii stands out with the highest household electricity price, reaching a staggering ***** U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour in September 2024. This stark contrast is primarily due to Hawaii's heavy reliance on imported oil for power generation. On the other hand, states like Utah benefit from lower rates, with prices around **** U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. Regarding U.S. prices by sector, residential customers have borne the brunt of price increases, paying an average of ***** U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour in 2023, significantly more than commercial and industrial sectors. Factors driving price increases Several factors contribute to the upward trend in electricity prices. The integration of renewable energy sources, investments in smart grid technologies, and rising peak demand all play a role. Additionally, the global energy crisis of 2022 and natural disasters affecting power infrastructure have put pressure on the electric utility industry. The close connection between U.S. electricity prices and natural gas markets also influences rates, as domestic prices are affected by higher-paying international markets. Looking ahead, projections suggest a continued increase in electricity prices, with residential rates expected to grow by *** percent in 2024, driven by factors such as increased demand and the ongoing effects of climate change.

UK Electricity decreased 23.24 GBP/MWh or 22.68% since the beginning of 2025, according to the latest spot benchmarks offered by sellers to buyers priced in megawatt hour (MWh). This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United Kingdom Electricity Price.

The average wholesale electricity price in September 2025 in the United Kingdom is forecast to amount to*******British pounds per megawatt-hour, a decrease from the previous month. A record high was reached in August 2022 when day-ahead baseload contracts averaged ***** British pounds per megawatt-hour. Electricity price stabilization in Europe Electricity prices increased in 2024 compared to the previous year, when prices stabilized after the energy supply shortage. Price spikes were driven by the growing wholesale prices of natural gas and coal worldwide, which are among the main sources of power in the region.

… and in the United Kingdom? The United Kingdom was one of the countries with the highest electricity prices worldwide during the energy crisis. Since then, prices have been stabilizing, almost to pre-energy crisis levels. The use of nuclear, wind, and bioenergy for electricity generation has been increasing recently. The fuel types are an alternative to fossil fuels and are part of the country's power generation plans going into the future.

This dataset was collected to understand how Norwegian households responded to the electricity price shock due to the European energy crisis. It consists of consumer characteristics and their self-reported responses to the extraordinarily high electricity prices which were collected by a survey of 4,446 consumers. The consumer characteristics contain information about socio-demographics such as income, age, education, number of residents, residence type, residence size, and how conscious the respondents are about their electricity consumption. Furthermore, major electricity-consuming appliances are identified, such as whether the residents have an electric vehicle and how they heat their homes, and if they have a variable electricity tariff. In addition, hourly metered electricity consumption data covering October 2020 to March 2022 from a subset of 1,136 residential consumers of the surveyed households and the total hourly residential electricity consumption per Norwegian bidding area from July 2019 to July 2022as well as the hourly day-ahead electricity prices are included in the dataset. These data are interesting to researchers that aim to gain insight into the electricity consumption behaviour of the residential sector and the impact of different socio-demographic variables.

A detailed description is available as a data article in Data in Brief: Norwegian hourly residential electricity demand data with consumer characteristics during the European energy crisis - ScienceDirect

Supplementary figures containing the survey results are available here: Supplementary result diagrams from household surveys on implicit demand response (zenodo.org)

Survey answers in Norwegian are available here: iFleks-prosjekt: Spørreundersøkelser med husholdninger og næringsliv om forbruksrespons på elektrisitetspriser

Electricity prices in Germany are forecast to amount to ***** euros per megawatt-hour in November 2025. Electricity prices in the country have not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Electricity price recovery German electricity prices began recovering back to pre-energy crisis levels in 2024, a period driven by a complex interplay of factors, including increased heating demand, reduced wind power generation, and water scarcity affecting hydropower production. Despite Germany's progress in renewable energy sources, with over ** percent of gross electricity generated from renewable sources in 2024, the country still relies heavily on fossil fuels. Coal and natural gas accounted for approximately ** percent of the energy mix, making Germany vulnerable to fluctuations in global fuel prices. Impact on consumers and future outlook The volatility in electricity prices has directly impacted German consumers. As of April 1, 2024, households with basic supplier contracts were paying around ** cents per kilowatt-hour, making it the most expensive option compared to other providers or special contracts. The breakdown of household electricity prices in 2023 showed that supply and margin, along with energy procurement, constituted the largest controllable components, amounting to **** and **** euro cents per kilowatt-hour, respectively. While prices have decreased since the 2022 peak, they remain higher than pre-crisis levels, underscoring the ongoing challenges in Germany's energy sector as it continues its transition towards renewable sources.

Table 4. Summary of system-wide economics of CCUS network ($2009 million). A 10% discount rates is used for NPV analysis. Three values for a given scenario represent the three different electricity prices assumed for sensitivity analysis (from top to bottom, 0.05$ kWh−1; industrial; residential). Abstract This letter compares several bounding cases for understanding the economic viability of capturing large quantities of anthropogenic CO2 from coal-fired power generators within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas electric grid and using it for pure CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the onshore coastal region of Texas along the Gulf of Mexico. All captured CO2 in excess of that needed for EOR is sequestered in saline formations at the same geographic locations as the oil reservoirs but at a different depth. We analyze the extraction of oil from the same set of ten reservoirs within 20- and five-year time frames to describe how the scale of the carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) network changes to meet the rate of CO2 demand for oil recovery. Our analysis shows that there is a negative system-wide net present value (NPV) for all modeled scenarios. The system comes close to breakeven economics when capturing CO2 from three coal-fired power plants to produce oil via CO2-EOR over 20 years and assuming no CO2 emissions penalty. The NPV drops when we consider a larger network to produce oil more quickly (21 coal-fired generators with CO2 capture to produce 80% of the oil within five years). Upon applying a CO2 emissions penalty of 60$2009/tCO2 to fossil fuel emissions to ensure that coal-fired power plants with CO2 capture remain in baseload operation, the system economics drop significantly. We show near profitability for the cash flow of the EOR operations only; however, this situation requires relatively cheap electricity prices during operation.

Context: What is load shedding? Why does South Africa use it?

The energy crisis in South Africa is particularly apparent in the frequency of “load shedding”: a technique of deliberately inducing rolling blackouts nationwide in order to prevent a destabilization and wipeout of the entire national grid. Power is shut off for up to seven hours a day almost every single day. Levels of load shedding range from 1-8. Level 0 means no load shedding.

Content

load_shedding.csv

This dataset gives the stage, date and time of nationwide outages dating back to 2015. The years 2016 and 2017 are excluded because there was no load shedding during those years. (If there is no data for a given day, that means there is no load shedding on that day. Or you can say, it is level 0 load shedding)

Total_electricity_production.csv

This dataset gives the electricity produced in South Africa by gigawatt hours, going back to 1985. It is measured quarterly.

Electricity_indicators.csv

The datasets includes different electricity-related indicators of countries including South Africa, World Average, Nigeria and etc.

Acknowledgements

Inspiration

1. How is South Africa's electricity access rate compared to other countries with similar GDP?
2. Is the South Africa's electricity access rates different between rural and urban populations?
3. Are there any seasonality in South Africa's electricity production? Can you information from other place to explain the seasonality?
4. Is the frequency of nation wide load shedding increasing or decreasing?
5. Can you predict electricity production for next year (2021)>
6. Can you predict the number of nation wide outages for next year?

As of December 2024, Guatemala had the highest household electricity price among Latin American countries, with an average of **** U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour. Argentina reported the lowest rate among the countries displayed, at less than **** U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour. Electricity prices across the American continent Electricity prices vary considerably across the American continent. The Caribbean country of Jamaica accounted for the highest household electricity price on the continent, after Guatemala and Uruguay, at **** U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour. In comparison, the residential electricity price in the United States amounted to approximately **** U.S. dollars per kilowatt-hour, like in Brazil. Global electricity prices After recovering from the global energy crisis, global electricity prices fell in most countries worldwide. The wildest price spikes occurred in countries that heavily rely on fossil fuels and energy imports, like the European countries. In some cases, price caps set by governmental institutions kept domestic electricity prices under a certain threshold, such as in Brazil.

The rising inflation worldwide in 2022 and 2023 is reflected in the increasing prices of the different commodity groups in the G7 countries. Most notably, the price of electricity, gas, and other fuels was high in the third quarter of 2024 in Japan, with price increases reaching 15 percent compared to the same period in 2023. On the other hand, gas and electricity inflation was negative in Germany, Italy, and the UK following extremely high rates in 2022 and the first half of 2023. Inflation rates increased sharply all around the world through 2022 and the beginning of 2023, spurred by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February that year. Economic challenges in Japan As food and restaurant costs have risen in Japan in comparison to the rest of the G7 nations, overall, Japan is facing a period of economic slowdown. Over time, the value of the Japanese yen has dropped. Moreover, the Japanese GDP has also dropped, going from around five trillion U.S. dollars in 2021 to 4.1 trillion U.S. dollars by 2024. However, it is predicted to begin increasing by 2025. Falling electricity costs Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis driven by the February 2022 invasion of Russia into Ukraine, electricity prices increased worldwide through 2021, 2022, and 2023. As of 2024, inflation of electricity costs is decreasing across the G7, more than other commodity groups. This rise and fall can be seen throughout Europe as well as within the United States, after peaking in 2022.

Table 5. Cash flow results for the CO2 capture capital and operation (independent of the capital and operation for electricity generation as we consider only the additional costs and revenues for CO2 capture). Values in millions $2009. Abstract This letter compares several bounding cases for understanding the economic viability of capturing large quantities of anthropogenic CO2 from coal-fired power generators within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas electric grid and using it for pure CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the onshore coastal region of Texas along the Gulf of Mexico. All captured CO2 in excess of that needed for EOR is sequestered in saline formations at the same geographic locations as the oil reservoirs but at a different depth. We analyze the extraction of oil from the same set of ten reservoirs within 20- and five-year time frames to describe how the scale of the carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) network changes to meet the rate of CO2 demand for oil recovery. Our analysis shows that there is a negative system-wide net present value (NPV) for all modeled scenarios. The system comes close to breakeven economics when capturing CO2 from three coal-fired power plants to produce oil via CO2-EOR over 20 years and assuming no CO2 emissions penalty. The NPV drops when we consider a larger network to produce oil more quickly (21 coal-fired generators with CO2 capture to produce 80% of the oil within five years). Upon applying a CO2 emissions penalty of 60$2009/tCO2 to fossil fuel emissions to ensure that coal-fired power plants with CO2 capture remain in baseload operation, the system economics drop significantly. We show near profitability for the cash flow of the EOR operations only; however, this situation requires relatively cheap electricity prices during operation.

Table 1. Description of four scenarios run to bound the cash flow analysis for the modeled system producing oil from ten EOR reservoirs from a given number of electric generating units (EGUs). Abstract This letter compares several bounding cases for understanding the economic viability of capturing large quantities of anthropogenic CO2 from coal-fired power generators within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas electric grid and using it for pure CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the onshore coastal region of Texas along the Gulf of Mexico. All captured CO2 in excess of that needed for EOR is sequestered in saline formations at the same geographic locations as the oil reservoirs but at a different depth. We analyze the extraction of oil from the same set of ten reservoirs within 20- and five-year time frames to describe how the scale of the carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) network changes to meet the rate of CO2 demand for oil recovery. Our analysis shows that there is a negative system-wide net present value (NPV) for all modeled scenarios. The system comes close to breakeven economics when capturing CO2 from three coal-fired power plants to produce oil via CO2-EOR over 20 years and assuming no CO2 emissions penalty. The NPV drops when we consider a larger network to produce oil more quickly (21 coal-fired generators with CO2 capture to produce 80% of the oil within five years). Upon applying a CO2 emissions penalty of 60$2009/tCO2 to fossil fuel emissions to ensure that coal-fired power plants with CO2 capture remain in baseload operation, the system economics drop significantly. We show near profitability for the cash flow of the EOR operations only; however, this situation requires relatively cheap electricity prices during operation.

The survey charted Finnish values and attitudes, focusing on climate change, public finances and debt, market economy, energy crisis followed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, national security, Finland's membership in NATO, and foreign investment. First, the respondents were asked to what extent they agreed or disagreed with 60 attitudinal statements related to the main themes. Some questions investigated the energy crisis. The respondents were asked how threatening they considered rising energy prices be to national economy and to their own and other people's livelihood, how problematic potential power cuts would be and what was the main heating system in their home. They were asked how likely it was that they would undertake certain measures to adapt to higher energy prices (shorten showering time, use electricity at cheaper times etc). Opinions were charted on different power and heating sources. Financial matters were studied with questions relating to household finances, estimates of the development of the respondent's own and national finances, and measures to support household and public finances. Views on expenditure cuts to different public sectors and services were surveyed. Climate change attitude questions investigated how possible the respondents considered adopting certain measures to combat climate change to be. Measures mentioned included giving up eating meat, dairy products or flying, reducing room temperature at home, teleworking, moving to a smaller home etc. NATO-related questions focused on attitudes to Finland's NATO membership. The respondents were also presented a number of factors and asked whether these were strengths or weaknesses when Finland competed for investments. Opinions were charted on Finland's EU membership and the adoption of the euro. Background variables included the respondent's age group, number of inhabitants in the municipality of residence, region (NUTS3), type of employer, working hours, type of employment contract, education, economic activity and occupational status, employment sector, trade union membership, what political party would vote for in parliamentary elections, self-perceived social class, mother tongue and year of birth.

Table 2. Capital and operating expenditures for each of the ten CO2-EOR fields analyzed for the Texas Gulf Coast in $/BBL. We assumed that EOR injection and production wells are drilled by side-tracking existing wells, so that capital costs are assumed at 50% of the cost of a new well. Abstract This letter compares several bounding cases for understanding the economic viability of capturing large quantities of anthropogenic CO2 from coal-fired power generators within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas electric grid and using it for pure CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the onshore coastal region of Texas along the Gulf of Mexico. All captured CO2 in excess of that needed for EOR is sequestered in saline formations at the same geographic locations as the oil reservoirs but at a different depth. We analyze the extraction of oil from the same set of ten reservoirs within 20- and five-year time frames to describe how the scale of the carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) network changes to meet the rate of CO2 demand for oil recovery. Our analysis shows that there is a negative system-wide net present value (NPV) for all modeled scenarios. The system comes close to breakeven economics when capturing CO2 from three coal-fired power plants to produce oil via CO2-EOR over 20 years and assuming no CO2 emissions penalty. The NPV drops when we consider a larger network to produce oil more quickly (21 coal-fired generators with CO2 capture to produce 80% of the oil within five years). Upon applying a CO2 emissions penalty of 60$2009/tCO2 to fossil fuel emissions to ensure that coal-fired power plants with CO2 capture remain in baseload operation, the system economics drop significantly. We show near profitability for the cash flow of the EOR operations only; however, this situation requires relatively cheap electricity prices during operation.

Non-residential electricity consumers in Denmark saw the electricity price increase during the energy crisis of 2022. For users with an annual consumption greater than 500 megawatt-hours and lower than 2,000 megawatt-hours, prices reached 19.44 euro cents per kilowatt-hour. Meanwhile, for users with a consumption greater than 20,000 and lower than 70,000 megawatt-hours, prices stood at 18.43 euro cents per kilowatt-hour that year.

ㅁ The demand resource market is a system in which electricity users sell the electricity they save to the electricity market and receive monetary compensation when the electricity market price is high or during a power system crisis. Customers participating in demand response resources can participate in the demand resource market through emergency response mandatory reduction and voluntary demand reduction. ㅁ Voluntary demand reduction (voluntary DR) is when participating customers voluntarily reduce demand by participating in economic DR, peak demand DR, and fine dust DR without a demand reduction request from the Korea Power Exchange. This data is identical to the status of voluntary DR bids in the Korea Power Exchange's demand resource trading system and includes data for economic DR, peak demand DR, and fine dust DR. ㅇ Link: https://dr.kmos.kr/nx/nxIndex.do ㅇ Update cycle: Once a day (02:10)

Since 2010, the household price of electricity in Poland has seen little change, increasing from ***** euro cents per kilowatt-hour to ***** euro cents in the first semester of 2024. Looking at the figures, it can be seen that on average prices were cheaper in the second half of each year. A noticeable exception was in the second half of 2021, when prices increased by due to the energy crisis. This was the peak price during the period of consideration. Price comparisons Compared to the rest of Europe, Polish households pay a reasonably low amount for electricity. In 2022, households using between ***** and ***** kWh paid ***** euro cents per kWh. This was considerably less than in Czechia or neighboring Germany, where prices amounted to ***** and ***** euro cents per kilowatt-hour, respectively. Electricity production The vast majority of electricity in Poland is produced by the burning of ****. Of this total, ** percent was produced by hard coal in 2023. Due to its reliance on fossil fuels for energy, pollution is high in Poland. However, the last decade has seen a decline in power generation from solid fossil fuels and an increase in power generation from natural gas and renewable sources. At the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, Poland also pledged to phase out coal.

According to Cognitive Market Research, the Global Electric Boilers Market Size was USD XX Billion in 2023 and is set to achieve a market size of USD XX Billion by the end of 2031 growing at a CAGR of XX% from 2024 to 2031.

The Electric Boilers Market will expand significantly by XX% CAGR between 2024 and 2031.
Electric hot water boilers account for the largest market share and are anticipated to have healthy growth over the approaching years.
The application of Electric boilers in residential areas holds the largest market share compared to others.
The offline distribution segment is the market’s largest contributor and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of XX% during the projected period.
North-America region dominated the market and accounted for the highest revenue of XX% in 2022 and it is projected that it will grow at a CAGR of XX% in the future.

Market Dynamics of the Electric Boilers Market

Key Drivers of the Electric Boilers Market

The wide range of benefits of electric boilers is leading to the market growth.

Traditional boilers burn fuels like coal, oil, or gas, which release harmful gases into the air, causing air pollution and eruption to climatic disturbance. Electric boilers on the other hand, run on electricity and do not burn fossil fuels to generate heat. Also, they do not rely on moving elements or others that produce noise; hence, are a perfect example of optimal utilization of resources with less wastage that is carbon emissions. Electric boilers are ideal for backup heating at home to boost your existing central heating system and their efficiency ratings are always high, ranging from 99 to 100%.

The other benefits of electric boilers are their high-efficiency levels, their environmentally friendly nature, flexible and easy installation process, less maintenance requirements, all these advantages make them the better and an attractive option compared to traditional and non-electric boilers.

The increase in demand for electric automobiles is driving the growth of the electric boilers market.

The demand for electric boilers is somewhat related to the demand for electric automobiles. The growing climatic concerns and environmental issues are leading people across the world to think and adopt alternative means. The shift from non-electric means to electric ones has already been initiated by almost all the regions to cater energy efficient, environmentally friendly installation to sustain the environment. Furthermore, electric boilers are naturally clean and release no direct emissions, which makes them an essential component in achieving the larger objective of lowering greenhouse emissions.

Key Restraints of the Electric Boilers Market

The rise in the price of electricity can restrict the market for electric boilers.

An electric boiler is a device that uses electrical energy to boil water instead of fossil fuels used in traditional gas or boilers. The meaning itself clearly explains that electric boilers are dependent on electricity for their operation. The electric boiler can not work without electricity; hence any change and variation in regards to electricity can directly affect the Electric Boilers Market.

The electricity market has been experiencing price hikes for a few years, which is also a concern for consumers using electric boilers or thinking of owning one in the future. The usage of electric boilers over gas boilers can become costlier if the electricity prices keep on rising. For instance, Electricity prices soared in 2022 during the worst energy crisis, leading to widespread of inflation and energy poverty. The European energy system was the most severely affected region as Italy’s prices for electricity were almost doubled. The prices in the United States and Russia experienced a variation of around 25%. During such situations, it would have been difficult for consumers to even think of using electric boilers and such concerns may affect the demand for the electric boilers in the market. (Source: https://www.statista.com/topics/10726/global-electricity-prices/#topicOverview)

Market Opportunities in the Electric Boilers Market

The emergence of storage battery technologies would allow households to store excess energy.

Battery storage, or battery energy storage systems, are devices that enable energy from renewables, like solar and wind, to be stored and then released when the pow...

Italy Solar Energy Market size was valued at USD 32.56 Billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 80.64 Billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 12.0% from 2026 to 2032.Key Market Drivers Government Incentives and Support Programs: Government financial incentives and regulatory support mechanisms have been a key driver for Italy's solar energy market, stimulating private investments across residential, commercial, and utility-scale segments. The Superbonus 110% program and other tax deduction schemes have significantly reduced upfront costs for installations. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan allocated USD 5.9 Billion for renewable energy development, with approximately USD 2.2 Billion specifically earmarked for solar PV projects between 2021-2026.Rising Electricity Prices and Energy Security Concerns: Escalating conventional energy costs and heightened concerns about energy security, particularly following the European energy crisis, have accelerated the transition to solar power in Italy. Solar energy has become increasingly competitive against fossil fuels as an economically advantageous alternative. Italian residential electricity prices increased by approximately 59% between January 2021 and December 2022, according to ARERA data, making solar self-consumption more financially attractive.