Rate cap expiration

The upcoming expiration of Pennsylvania’s rate caps means tremendous opportunity for consumers to shop for lower-cost electricity supply. With an influx of competitive options, many residential and business consumers may be wondering how to get the most of their choices.
 

Electricity competition is at an important crossroads in Pennsylvania. Six months ago, rate caps expired in one Pennsylvania utility’s service area, and six months from now rate caps expire in the rest of the state. For the first time, the state’s entire retail market will be open to competitive forces.
 
But already, the success of competition is clear. Wholesale electricity prices are decreasing, and hundreds of thousands of consumers are switching power suppliers to obtain lower-cost electricity than is available from their incumbent utility suppliers.
 

The good news continues in Pennsylvania as more and more residents experience the benefits of competition. Less than a month after rate caps expired in the PPL Electric Utilities service territory in the northeastern and central part of the state, almost 20 percent of total customers have switched to alternative energy suppliers offering power at up to 10 percent off PPL Electric’s current default rate.

As of this week, 263,000 PPL customers have chosen alternative power suppliers. This number represents 218,000 residential customers and 45,000 commercial and industrial customers, and means 40 percent of the total electric load and 19 percent of the residential load is shopping. Observers expected customers to consider alternatives, but the rate of activity has “been a very dramatic, robust response,” according to Pennsylvania State Consumer Advocate Sonny Popowsky.

PennFuture, Pennsylvania’s leading conservation organization, is sponsoring a day-long event in Harrisburg on December 3 to examine the environmental and economic benefits obtained through competitive electricity markets.

The conference – Competitive Electricity Markets: Benefits for Consumers and the Environment – will address innovative energy efficiency and demand response programs that flourish in the state’s competitive market — saving consumers money and reducing electricity consumption. The event also will explore the significant impact of renewable energy, especially wind energy that has prospered within Pennsylvania’s competitive market structure.