LISA SCHEID | Business Trends ReporterPPL Electric Utilities customers who don’t shop for electricity supply will see their costs drop on June 1, if a rate change is approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
That’s a decrease of $9.77 a month, the utility said in announcing the proposed rate. The decrease applies to customers who are on the company’s default supply rate, known as the price to compare.
The PUC next meets Thursday. PUC Spokesperson Nils Hagen-Frederisksen said these energy costs reset for every Pennsylvania electric utility on June 1, and reset every six months for nearly all of those electric utilities, moving up and down based on energy costs.
Commission staff reviews the math each utility uses to calculate their price-to-compare adjustments, but these changes do not require the same type of formal action by the Commissioners as a base distribution rate change, he said.
The price to compare for residential customers is set to decrease to 10.040 cents per kilowatt hour from 11.02 cents per kilowatt hour. For small business customers the new default rate is 9.237 cents per kilowatt hour, which means the monthly electric bill for an average business customer will drop by $22.24.
If new rates are approved, a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours per month will see a price drop of more than 9% on the supply portion of their bill. Small business customers will see a nearly 19% decrease in the supply portion of their bills. The newly proposed rates will be in effect June 1 through Nov. 30.
PPL is the default electric supplier for most homes in Lancaster County, with approximately 272,000 customers here. Customers who don’t shop for electricity pay the default supplier’s rate, or price-to-compare, which in PPL’s case is updated twice per year based upon competitive energy auctions.
The proposed June 1 decrease follows decreases that began on June 1, 2023. Since then, the default rate has decreased by more than 17% for residential customers and nearly 21% for small business customers, the utility said.
In a call with investors this week, PPL Corp. CEO Vince Sorgi said the company filed a petition with the PUC to raise the company’s distribution system improvement charge cap from 5% and to 9% of distribution revenues for bills rendered on or after January 1, 2025.
Sorgi said the fee accelerates the repair and replacement of aging infrastructure by allowing utilities to recover the cost of investments in eligible property.
“As we confront more frequent and powerful storms and aging infrastructure, we believe an increase is needed to maintain and improve reliability moving forward,” Sorgi said, according to a call transcript. “We expect minimal impact to customer bills because of this change, and we look forward to engaging with the commission as they consider our request.”
CHAD UMBLE | Staff WriterA decision on that petition is expected by the end of the year.
PPL Electric Utilities has also filed a new default service plan that Sorgi said includes “modifications to lessen price volatility and improve affordability, support resource adequacy and foster the growth and development of renewable generation in Pennsylvania.”
“We expect the modifications to result in lower supply cost for our customers during the term of the plan, which is from June 1, 2025, through May 31, 2029,” Sorgi said, adding that a decision on that plan is expected by the year’s end.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on a modified settlement on PPL Electric Utilities billing system malfunction that impacted nearly 800,000 customer accounts. PPL and the PUC Office of Investigation & Enforcement have until May 24 to withdraw from the joint settlement, as modified by the commission. If either or both chooses to withdraw, then the underlying settlement agreement becomes void, and the matter will be returned to Investigation & Enforcement for further action.
