Local electricity prices scheduled to go up, but consumers have choices
West Penn Power and Penn Power customers might see an increase to their electric bills starting June 1.
That is if customers are using the Price to Compare payment model, or default model, according to Todd Meyers, a senior communications representative at West Penn Power.
Many Pennsylvanians might not know it is possible to shop for electricity for their home or business, but legislation that passed in Pennsylvania allows consumers to shop for the cheapest electricity in their area.
“You are not captive to that Price to Compare,” Meyers said. “There may be opportunities to go out and shop and find a deal that suits you to save some money.”
Meyers explained that WestPenn Power charges for the transmission of electricity to homes and businesses, but customers are free to chose which company provides the actual electricity.
This is where papowerswitch.com becomes a great tool to use, Meyers said.
Customers can type in their ZIP codes on the website, and it will give them all the different suppliers for the electricity portion of the bill.
If the customer has not selected a supplier, West Penn Power and Penn Power will supply electricity on behalf of the customer through an auction process.
“That's what we call Price to Compare,” Meyers said. “People can then go to papowerswitch.com, and if you can find an offer that you believe will save you some money, then you can switch away from what we call the default service.”
Price to Compare for West Penn Power residential customers as of April 1 is 8.23 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Starting June 1, it will increase just under 20% to 9.93 cents per kWh.
But that doesn’t mean the overall bill also will go up 20%. Meyers said.
“The bill itself would increase by about 13%,” Meyers explained. “That figures the customer uses 750 kWh of electricity per month. Some may use more, some may use less, but that's a good typical number.”
For Penn Power right now, the Price to Compare is 10.44 cents per kWh as of April 1. It will also change June 1 to 10.56 cents per kWh.
“That is about a 1% Price to Compare increase,” Meyers said. “Right now residential customers with the default service that uses 750 kWh of electricity per month will see a 0.67% total bill increase.”
In the past, Price to Compare rates changed once every three months, but starting June 1, the rates will change every six months.
Meyers also explained that West Penn Power and Penn Power do not create electricity. They make their money through the wires that carry the electricity, the substations, transmissions lines and other infrastructure.
“The important thing to note is we don’t care,” Meyers said regarding customers choosing their supplier. “We want you to get the best price that you can get for yourself, but it does not matter who your supplier is to us, because West Penn Power is still moving it there.”
Meyers said natural gas, a top fuel in generating electricity, has been very inexpensive for a number of years but recently has started to spike for several reasons, thus driving up electricity costs.
“The prices appear to have slowed down in recent times,” Meyers said. “Power prices have gone up at auction, and it's because of things we have no control over, things like natural gas supplies, cost of fuels, ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and other factors.”
Setting thermostats low in wintertime certainly will save money on electricity, Meyers said, but in summertime residents should take a different approach.
“In the summertime it's going the opposite direction,” Meyers said. “It's setting your thermostat up so you're allowing the house to get warmer. Then you can use fans that move the air — that doesn't take as much electricity.”
