PECO has announced that their default price to compare option for residential customers will drop on September 1, 2023. However, despite this news of a lower PECO electric rate this fall, substantially lower competitive rates are being offered by Pennsylvania electricity suppliers that can result in customers saving a bundle on their monthly electric bills.

In June PECO customers on the default rate experience a sharp increase in the price the pay for electricity as it went up to 10.3¢ per kWh. That rate will drop on September 1, 2023 to 9.672¢ per kWh. While some PECO customers are celebrating the 6.2% rate reduction in a time of rising costs due to high inflation, the reality is that these customers can save a whole lot more if they take the time to learn about electricity choice in the PECO service area and rest of Pennsylvania.

While the new PECO price to compare rate will drop to below 10¢ in September 2023, multiple competitive rate options can be found below 9¢ and even below 8¢ in some cases. Customers on the default rate should search for the lowest PECO electric rates in order to maximize their potential electricity savings.

The Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate released a report on July 1, 2023 indicating that only 21.5% of PECO Energy customers were purchasing their electricity from a competitive supplier. ElectricRate.com, an energy comparison platform, is showing competitive Pennsylvania electricity rates yielding savings from 14% to as high as 30% against the default rate. It’s hard to believe but the reality is that 78.5% of PECO Energy customers are missing out on the ability to a tremendous amount of money on their electric bills.

While the PECO default rate did remain quite low in 2021 and into 2022, current competitive prices have remained well below the price to compare in 2023. After the September rate adjustment the next one will not occur until December 1, 2023 and there is not a lot of data to indicate that the price will drop significantly or at all.

Locking in a competitive PECO electric rate will save consumers money right away as well as protect them from further PECO rate hikes. Even though the PECO default rate is going down by 6% in September, the trend over the last year has been for the rate to increase, making it all the more important to secure a low fixed rate now to avoid fluctuating PECO electric bills over the next one or two years.