County residents will pay more for electricity
Some Butler County residents will pay more than 8 cents per kilowatt-hour for electric generation beginning June 1 as both Penn Power and West Penn Power hiked their rates for customers.
West Penn Power, which serves much of northern and western Butler County, is increasing its electric generation rates by 44.6%, from 5.667 cents to 8.198 cents per kWh, while Penn Power, serving the county’s southern tier, will hike its generation rates from 7.082 to 8.694 cents per kWh, a 22.7% jump.
West Penn Power customers who use 846 kWh a month — the average monthly household usage in Pennsylvania, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration — would see their bill for electric generation increase by more than $21 per month.
Penn Power customers who use the 846 kWh monthly average would have their bill increase by roughly $13 a month.
Both Penn Power and West Penn Power are owned by First Energy Corp., an Ohio company. The companies are two of three companies that provide electricity to residents across Butler County.
First Energy earned a $288 million profit in the first quarter of 2022, according to an April news release, less than its $335 million profit in the first quarter of 2021.
According to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, or PUC, power companies are forbidden from making a profit on generation, which makes up roughly half of customers’ electricity bills. The PUC, however, does not regulate generation prices.
Central Electric Cooperative also provides electricity to 9,736 customers in Butler County.
The PUC reminded customers of electric utilities’ standard offer programs, which provides customers the opportunity to receive service from a competing electric supplier at a 7% discount.
For West Penn Power customers, opting in to the standard offer would mean paying 7.6241 cents per kWh, decreasing the overall rate hike to roughly 34%. Choosing the standard offer would mean a price increase of about $16.56 per month, down roughly $5 from the original, non-discounted increase.
Penn Power customers opting in to the standard offer would equal a generation rate of 8.0854 per kWh, shrinking the rate hike to about 14%. Those customers would pay about $8 a month more than before the rate hike.
Interested customers can opt in to the standard offer program by calling their electric utility.
The PUC also provides utility customers the option of choosing a different supplier via PAPowerSwitch. Choosing a different supplier would not change the distribution charges or other surcharges on an electric bill, but could change the generation rate.
