Americans spend over $612 billion annually on energy bills, and the price isn’t expected to come down soon. After rising steadily over the past two years, energy costs are at their highest point since 1987, just after the energy crisis of the 1970s and 1980s.

Some economists estimate that energy bills are consuming as much as 10 percent of the income in low-income households. According to Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com, lower-income households will face a “significant problem” if prices continue to rise.

Last week was a bleak reminder of rising energy prices. Last Friday, the price of crude oil hit $70.68 a barrel, the first time in a year that the price per barrel rose above $70. Today, oil prices climbed further to $72.63. Nationally, gasoline prices are up 11.3 cents a gallon from a year ago.

Some economists, like Lehman Brothers, expect high energy prices for the rest of the year. The firm’s analysts predict average oil prices to range from $65 to $75 a barrel this year. Last year the average was $66.11. They also expect those prices to cause a 0.5 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index.

Economist Bob Brusca of Fact and Opinion Economics worries that higher energy prices are causing consumer confidence to fall to the same low levels as before the recession in 2001.

These statistics may be warning signs that the U.S. economy will continue to slow down.