PPL Electric Utility Area

 

PPL RATES HAVE GONE THROUGH THE ROOF FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS!!

The most severely affected customers will be those who opted for PPL's new two-tiered time-of-use rates, which charge a higher price during peak hours, between 1 and 6 p.m. on weekdays.

The price for on-peak hours increased 64 percent, from 7.54 cents per kilowatt hour to 12.37 cents.
The price for off-peak hours increased 75 percent, from 6.1 cents per kilowatt hour to 10.65 cents.

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For general service (GS) customers – mostly small offices and shops – the new on-peak price will be 16.24 cents per kilowatt-hour, and the off-peak price will be 12.45 cents per kilowatt-hour during the peak hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays.

The new price to compare for PPL's 900,000 residential customers who have stayed with the utility will be 8.77 cents per kilowatt hour, a decrease from the current 9.27 cents per kWh. A typical residential customer using 1,000 kWh monthly will save about $5.

PPL electric utility area is now open to competition. If you live or own a business in this deregulated electric utility market there are several competitive electricity suppliers available to bid on your account.

 

The rates of small commercial customers increased 33 percent on June 1.

Most residential customers - nearly 900,000 of the utility's 1.4 million customers - saw a 5 percent decrease.

PPL spokesman Michael O. Wood said the 21,000 customers who switched to hourly rates this year can switch back to the utility's flat default rate immediately. Wood said the dramatic difference in prices was the result of the different way the Public Utility Commission requires the utility to procure power. PPL's default rate is based on a combination of long-term and shorter-term supply contracts - "a balanced portfolio that aims to secure the least costs for customers over time," he said. The time-of-use rates are based on short-term spot markets, and so they vary more dramatically.

In Pennsylvania's deregulated marketplace, utilities must adjust their supply rates quarterly to reflect fluctuations in the electric commodity markets. The utilities pass the costs along to customers without markup.

The quarterly changes do not affect the utility's distribution charge, which all customers pay no matter who supplies their power.

Business customers at PPL Electric Utilities in Pennsylvania are being hit hard by the rate hike that went into effect June 1, but can drastically cut their electric bill by shopping for a competing energy supplier.

Most small and mid-sized business customers at PPL who don’t shop for power started paying over 13¢ per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for electricity effective June 1 — an increase of 33%.

However, an even bigger rate hike occurred for those business customers served on PPL’s optional Time of Use rates (G1V, G3V-TOU).

During the winter, many customers opted onto PPL’s time-of-use rates because, due to an anomaly in how the power was procured, the winter rates were artificially below market, at 7.5 cents on-peak, and 6.1 cents off-peak. Customers who signed up for those rates, which were steeply discounted during the winter, were warned they would likely increase in the summer. Now comes the rate shock.

These time-of-use spiked on June 1 and are now substantially above the price offered by competing electric suppliers.  The PPL on-peak rate for G1V and G3V customers is now 12.4 cents, an increase of 64%.  The off-peak rate also spiked 74% to 10.6 cents.

Business customers who switched to the time-of-use rates with expectations of lower bills will be hammered with these rate increases unless they shop for a lower electric rate from a competing energy supplier.

More than 538,000 of PPL's 1.4 million customers have switched suppliers since the market rates took hold 17 months ago, a year ahead of Peco Energy Co.'s rates.  Despite thousands of dollars in savings available from shopping for a lower electric rate , more than half (55%) of PPL business customers still buy power from PPL at inflated rates, either because they are unaware of the savings, or think that shopping will be too much of a hassle.

PPL serves customers in 29 counties in eastern and central Pennsylvania, including parts of Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester Counties.