Ahead of a June 1 adjustment date, several utility companies have announced changes to some of their customers’ rates.
According to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, several electric utilities will be adjusting their electric generation prices charged to non-shipping, or default service, customers on June 1.
PPL Electric Utilities said in a release that customers who do not shop for their electricity supply will see a drop in the Price to Compare.
Effective June 1, the new Price to Compare for residential customers will be 12.126 cents per kilowatt-hour, down around 17% from the current 14.612 cents per kWh.
PPL said this translates to a decrease of around $24 per month for a residential customer receiving default service, based on an average monthly use of 1,000 kWh of electricity.
Small business customers will see their Price to Compare drop almost 21% from 14.751 cents per kWh to 11.689 cents per kWh.
Business customers using 1,000 kWH of electricity and 5 kW a month will save around $29.
Meanwhile, Met-Ed said its non-shopping residential customers will see a 2.49% rise in the Price to Compare, from 9.99 cents per kWh to 10.24 cents per kWh.
This means bills will increase by around 1.44% for residential customers using 750 kWh per month.
Commercial customers will see a 23% price rise from 8.68 cents per kWh to 10.86 per kWh.
The utility company said a commercial customer using 12,500 kWh per month, 50 kW demand will see a bill increase of around 17.6%.
Both Met-Ed and PPL said the new Price to Compare only affects the energy portion of a customer’s bill, while the delivery and distribution charges will not change.
The utility companies encouraged customers to use the Price to Compare as a reference point when shopping for their electricity supply.
Consumers can use the PUC’s electric shopping website PAPowerSwitch.com to check offers from different energy suppliers.
Regarding gas prices, UGI Utilities announced that its purchased gas cost rates will not change on June 1, and that it projects a rate decrease on Dec. 1.
UGI said if its projected Dec. 1 rates are approved by the PUC, a typical residential heating customer who uses 73.1 hundred cubic feet of natural gas per month would see their bill decrease from $114.13 per month to $100.07, or 12.3%.
A bill for a typical commercial heating customer using 28.77 thousand cubic feet per month will decrease from $360.88 to $306.53 per month, or 15.1%.
A typical industrial retail customer using 92.39 Mcf monthly will see their bill decrease from $1,097.04 per month to $922.48, or 15.9%.
UGI’s Chief Regulatory Officer Paul Szykman said in a release that natural gas prices have moved lower over the past several months.
The utility said it required to file its gas cost rates annually for review by the PUC and may adjust them quarterly to reflect changes in wholesale natural gas prices.
According to the release, utilities cannot earn a profit on the natural gas commodity portion of a customer’s bill, and are required to pass the cost of the natural gas they purchase directly through to customers without any markup.
(Original air-date: 5/24/23)
