Glossary
Original-base method
Recomputing the fee from the original price and the original index every year, instead of compounding annual steps.
Under the original-base method, today's fee is the original fee times the index today divided by the index at the start. There is one ratio, not a chain of annual ratios. Caps, if drafted against each year, may still limit each step. Read whether the cap is annual.
This method and compounding diverge. Over two years of uneven inflation they are not the same dollar. Using compounding on a clause that says 'adjusted from the fees in the original exhibit by the change in the index since the commencement month' overstates or understates the price.
The calculator on this site is a single ratio. That is the original-base method when you choose the original month as the base, and it is one annual step when you choose last year's month as the base. Run it twice, from the true original month and from last year, if you are not yet sure which clause you have. The two answers tell you whether the drafting difference is material.
Do not chain the single-step calculator on already-adjusted prices and also start from the original index. That double-counts.
Related terms
See it used in a worked example · CPI calculator · Request an audit
Sources and limits
Index levels from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index, not seasonally adjusted, retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on November 1, 2026. Values are index points, not the headline 12-month percent.
Statewide rates reflect U.S. Department of Labor state minimum-wage postings as updated January 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Note on 2026 increases, and, for the prior-year comparison and named local rates, the National Employment Law Project compilation published in November 2025. Confirm the rate that applies to the workplace before using it in a bill.
The contracts in these worksheets are fictional. The prices are chosen so the arithmetic is easy to check. They are not a price survey and they are not client results.
RateClause is not a law firm. Nothing on this page is legal advice. Your clause controls, including whether a past period can be rebilled at all.
Primary postings: BLS Consumer Price Index, U.S. Department of Labor, state minimum wages, U.S. Department of State notice of 2026 minimum-wage increases.