Pa. electric rates to go down for some this summer

• Rachel McDevitt
  BioRecent Stories

  

  I report on energy and the environment for StateImpact Pennsylvania at WITF.
  
  My work focuses on responses and solutions to climate change in the state legislature and communities around the state. I trace my interest in these issues back to my time as a Girl Scout and this episode of Rocko’s Modern Life.
  
  I look forward to winter just for the chance to ski a few times each season. I try to keep myself from doom-scrolling on my phone by keeping my hands busy knitting and learning to play the piano.
  
  I grew up in Cambria County, Pa. and graduated from Temple University. I started at WITF just after Christmas in 2014.

Allyson Ruggieri / WESA

Utility terminations resumed April 1, 2021.

Some midstate electric customers could see more affordable bills this summer after a winter of high rates.

Electric utilities will update their default rates, known as the price-to-compare, on June 1.

PPL told its customers in an email Tuesday that its price-to-compare will drop 17% to 12.126 cents per kilowatt hour. That means customers on the default rate who use an average of 1,000 kilowatt hours per month will see their bills go down by about $24. PPL said more than 60% of its 1.4 million customers use the price-to-compare.

Electric customers served by one of the utilities owned by FirstEnergy will see an increase in rates.

Met-Ed customers will see default rates rise 2.49% to 10.24 cents per kWh. Penelec’s rate is increasing 1.49% to 9.7 cents per kWh. West Penn’s rate is jumping 20.67% to 9.93 cents per kWh.

That doesn’t mean bills will rise by the same percentage.

FirstEnergy spokesman Todd Meyers said that’s because the generation piece of the bill accounts for 50-60% of the total. The distribution charges for the utility to deliver electricity to homes and businesses, which makes up the rest of the bill, will not change.

The new rates depend on what power supply utilities were able to secure for their customers.

The price of natural gas–the dominant source of power in the state–has been fluctuating. The average price in Pennsylvania at the end of 2022 was $4.45 per million British thermal units (MMBtu). That was 12% higher than the same time the year before, but down from a high of $6.89 per MMBtu earlier in 2022. A mild winter kept demand low.

“It is important to remember that our customers are not captive to the price to compare. We encourage our customers to shop for generation. They may be able to find an offer that can save them money,” Meyers said.

Customers can shop for electricity suppliers at papowerswitch.com.

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About StateImpact Pennsylvania

StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration among WITF, WHYY, and the Allegheny Front. Reporters Reid Frazier, Rachel McDevitt and Susan Phillips cover the commonwealth’s energy economy. Read their reports on this site, and hear them on public radio stations across Pennsylvania.

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