Pa. consumers will have to cut own electric bills

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — With the household electric bills of many Pennsylvanians expected to skyrocket by 2011, legislators last year were talking about forcing electric utilities to eat part of the cost.

That talk is over.

Beginning Jan. 1, the 1.4 million electric customers of PPL Corp. can expect an average 30 percent increase in their bills if they don’t do anything. One year later, another 3 million-plus customers of Allegheny Power, Metropolitan Edison, Peco Energy and Pennsylvania Electric are likely to see rates jump higher, too.

Legislators did nothing but talk about requiring utilities to share the higher cost that is about to result from the expiration of deregulation-era rate caps. Those caps have, since the 1990s, protected most Pennsylvanians from paying the true cost of the electricity they use.

The Legislature’s inaction means ratepayers will have to be proactive if they want to slice anything off their bills.

For starters, that means shopping for a better price.

Pennsylvania’s 1996 deregulation law — which was supposed to usher in a competitive electricity market and bring down bills — allows electricity marketers to vie for customers. And it will be up to individual ratepayers to switch to suppliers that can resell electricity for less than the utility can when their rate cap expires and prices rise.

A switch could look seamless since electricity marketers can have agreements with utilities — which continue billing for the cost to maintain the wires that deliver electricity — to keep sending the bill.

Information on how to switch is on the Web sites of the Public Utility Commission and the Office of Consumer Advocate.

In addition, the Legislature passed a bill last year that requires the state’s 11 utilities to reduce electricity use — meaning ratepayers will see their utilities offering rebates on energy-saving appliances or light bulbs, home energy inspections and more.

For low-income households, there is more money than ever for weatherization projects — thanks in part to the federal stimulus bill — and utilities have various programs to help people afford their electricity bill or reduce their usage.