Electric Rates are Increasing for Pennsylvania Residents

Commercial and residential electric rates at FirstEnergy‘s Pennsylvania utilities — Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power, and West Penn Power — will rise sharply for customers who continue to buy their electricity supply from their utility instead of shopping for an alternative electric provider.

Although competition has been introduced in the Pennsylvania electric industry, utilities still provide “default service” to customers who do not choose an alternative electric provider.For most customers the default electric rate, or Price to Compare, changes every three months and will change for FirstEnergy’s Pennsylvania utilities on June 1, 2014.

Specifically, the Met-Ed residential default electric rate will increase 25 percent from 7.776¢ per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 9.753¢/kWh, starting June 1, 2014.  The Met-Ed commercial default electric rate will increase slightly to 7.833¢/kWh.

All electric rates in this story do not reflect the state tax adjustment surcharge, which has a negligible impact on rates.

The Penelec residential default electric rate will increase 20 percent from 7.734¢/kWh to 9.284¢/kWh.  The Penelec commercial default electric rate will increase 20 percent from 7.361¢/kWh to 8.844¢/kWh.

The Penn Power residential default electric rate will increase 31 percent from 6.181¢/kWh to 8.094¢/kWh.  The Penn Power commercial default electric rate will increase 30 percent from 5.651¢/kWh to 7.353¢/kWh.

The West Penn Power residential default electric rate will increase 50 percent from 4.961¢/kWh to 7.514¢/kWh.  The West Penn Power commercial default electric rate will increase 17 percent from 5.780¢/kWh to 6.777¢/kWh.

Quick Facts:

• Met-Ed (Metropolitan Edison) serves 560,000 customers in eastern Pennsylvania, including the city of Reading and counties such as York, Berks, Lebanon, Adams, and parts of Dauphin and Lancaster, among others.

• Penelec (Pennsylvania Electric Company) serves approximately 590,000 customers in 31 central and western Pennsylvania counties, including customers in Altoona, Johnstown, and Erie.

• Penn Power serves 161,000 customers in western Pennsylvania, including outlying areas north of Pittsburgh.

• West Penn Power (Allegheny) serves 720,000 customers in western Pennsylvania, including outlying areas surrounding Pittsburgh.