PPL planning to hike electricity rates again

Here’s how much more you could pay every month

Some PPL Electric Utilities customers will pay hundreds of dollars more for service this year.

After a nearly 26% increase in the residential price to compare in December, there will be a 38% increase starting June 1.

The average PPL residential customer will see their monthly bill increase by about $34, the company said.

“In current dollars (not adjusted for inflation), this is the highest residential price to compare since the default rate began being offered in 2006,” said Alana Roberts, PPL spokesperson. “The increase is due to several ongoing market conditions that are impacting most sectors of the economy, including the rising cost of energy supply sources as well as overall inflation and other global economic events.”

The last double-digit increase was a 14% jump in June 2017. However, it was followed by a 12% decrease in December 2017.

The price to compare is the wholesale price PPL passes on to customers who rely on the utility to purchase electricity supply.

“If customers don’t choose a supplier, they receive default supply through PPL Electric per state law,” Roberts said. “It’s updated twice a year by PPL based upon competitive energy auctions, which are designed to secure the lowest rate offered, which PPL then passes on to customers based on their electric use at no profit to the company.”

In PPL territory, which includes the Lehigh Valley, about a third of residential customers shop for competitive suppliers, said Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Public Utility

Commission.

“For them, there is no change unless their contract is expired,” he said.

Hagen-Frederiksen said the commission operates a neutral, independent shopping comparison website — papowerswitch.com — where customers can compare electricity suppliers in the area.

“The lowest prices tend to come with shorter-term contracts, especially right now when we’re seeing a very volatile global market for energy,” he said. “Prices are swinging rather dramatically.”

The big increase in energy costs also comes just as temperatures usually start to rise.

“Summer is generally the highest electric-use season of the year because of air conditioning demand,” Hagen-Frederiksen said.

He stressed energy prices tend to fluctuate, but recent conditions have led to the high prices.

“They go up ... they go down,” he said. “These are some of the most substantial increases we’ve seen in years but we’re in a set of unusual circumstances in that there is dramatic upward pressure on energy prices around the globe.”

Gary Drapek, president and CEO of the United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties, noted the significant price increase could force vulnerable citizens to make difficult decisions.

“A large part of our population is still trying to come out of the pandemic,” he said. “A 38% increase in their utility bill is going to be devastating. What usually happens — especially when you’re dealing with seniors — is they give up on something else to pay their utility bills, usually medications. People are going to have to make major sacrifices.”