Higher summer electricity bills have become all too familiar for PPL residential customers over the last several years. 2019 will be more of the same as the central Pennsylvania utility has again announced a rate increase that will go into effect on the first of June. PPL, the second largest utility in the state, released the auction results that determine the default rate for their residential customer pool.
PPL’s current residential Price to Compare, which has been in effect since December 1, 2018, will jump from $0.07039 to the higher price of $0.07585 on June 1, 2019. The higher price represents a 7.8% increase on the supply price and will be seen on PPL electric bills that start arriving in customer’s mailboxes and email inboxes in early July. The new rate will stay in effect through the end of November.
Higher summer electricity bills can be avoided for default paying customers by simply searching for and comparing competitive PPL electricity rates. Price to Compare rates do not effect customers who are receiving their power supply from a third party competitive supplier. Pennsylvania electricity choice allows customers to choose competitive rate plans and replace the PPL default rate with the alternative supplier’s electricity price.
Data obtained from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s energy choice website reveals that currently only 39.7% of PPL residential customers are receiving their power from a competitive Pennsylvania electricity supplier. This data concludes that there are roughly 700,000 residential customers on the PPL Price to Compare who can avoid the price increase that will take place on June first by finding a lower fixed rate.
Competitive PPL electricity rates are available below. In addition to plans offering lower prices than the default rate, many plans are offering renewable energy or “green energy” options that allow customers to purchase electricity generated from cleaner sources such as the wind, sun, or hydro. All suppliers below are licensed by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
After a year of sub-par prices, competitive New Jersey electricity suppliers have lowered their rate offers in the JCPL service area. Several electricity companies have focused their attention to JCPL residential customers who are on the default utility rate service and customers who are on competitive rate plans that are about to expire. The JCPL basic generation service rate has been fixed since October 1, 2018 and will not change until June 1, 2019. The current price is $0.102258 per KWh, which is substantially higher than the lowest JCPL competitive rates. Even though the default rate will change on June 1, now is as good as time as ever to shop and compare for New Jersey electricity rates in the JCPL area.
Choosing a competitive electricity supplier can benefit consumers at anytime of the year. The key is to find a competitive rate that is lower than the utility default rate which will provide guaranteed savings on the electric bill; a scenario that currently exists for JCPL customers. While historically wholesale energy prices are lower in the fall and spring, the summer and winter months often provide great opportunities for electricity shoppers looking to save money. Competitive electric suppliers already have future weather projections built into their rates so anytime can be a good time to shop and choose the best electric rate.
In addition to prices that are below the basic generation service rate, many New Jersey electricity suppliers are offering green energy rates to JCPL customers. Selecting a green energy plan causes JCPL to purchase the amount of power that you consume during the term of the contract from electricity generation sources that are deemed green or environmentally friendly such as wind, solar, and hydro power. In the past these green energy plans usually cost a premium to the customer. Currently some JCPL supplier are offering the green energy option to their lowest priced rates.
While the JCPL basic generation service rate for the summer of 2019 is currently unknown, it is likely going to be higher than many of the low competitive rate options being offered. The summer JCPL default rate will go into effect on June 1, 2019 and remain in effect through the end of September. The actual price will be announced sometime in early May.
United Illuminating residential customers who have grown tired of rising standard electricity supply rates are turning to competitive prices to lower their monthly power bills. With the United Illuminating standard default rate changing twice a year and being unpredictable, long term fixed competitive rates have gained in popularity. The problem that many first time shoppers in the second largest Connecticut utility face is not knowing where they can accurately compare electricity prices.
Comparing electricity suppliers in Connecticut is an easy task that can be completely handled on the computer.  One tool that is becoming increasingly popular to help United Illuminating electric choice shoppers choose and compare rates are one stop shop online comparison sites. The most informative comparison sites, such as ElectricRate.com, give consumers easy access to compare the lowest United Illuminating electricity rates to the United Illuminating standard offer service. This allows shoppers to see just how much money they can save by choosing a specific plan.
The benefit of viewing multiple offers at once brings up the competitive level amongst the suppliers to another level.  Upon completion of comparing the options and choosing a rate plan, the switch process begins online without having to worry about scheduling a time for a person to come to your home and change wires.  When the contract comes to an end online comparison sites will provide their customers with the ability to compare and switch to yet another supplier that might be offering an even lower price than the existing competitive supplier is providing.
Often customers choose a plan and when it comes time to renew or find a new plan they get lazy and just stick with whatever their current competitive supplier is offering. By not taking the time to compare current Untied Illuminating electric rates, the customer is in peril of severely overpaying for their power. Often competitive Connecticut electricity suppliers offer their lowest rates to brand new customers and present higher prices to existing customers who are coming off of contracts because they know that a large percentage of their existing customers will not take the time to compare. Good online comparison sites will represent their customers and provide them with updates informing them that their contracts are set to expire and current offers to compare.
Below are daily updated United Illuminating competitive rates that can be compared against the utility standard offer service.
Business customers in the western part of Massachusetts who receive their electric bill from Eversource Energy have started to feel the effects of a large rate increase that took effect at the beginning of the year. On January 1, 2019 Eversource Energy enacted a rate increase on their small business default rate. The default rate increased from $0.10859 per KWh to $0.12355, which represents a 13.78% increase. Since the rate did not go into effect until the first day of 2019, many business customers did not learn about the change until they received their electric bill in February.
The majority of Western Massachusetts electricity customers receive their power from Western Eversource Energy, formerly named WMECO. As an electricity choice state Massachusetts customers have the option to shop for electricity rates from competitive energy suppliers who are licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. The choice laws give consumers the option to shop for competitive rates. If a customer does not choose a competitive price plan they are put on a default supply price with their local utility such as Eversource Energy. When an environment exists that allows competitive suppliers to offer electricity rates below the default price it produces an obvious incentive for the customer to switch onto a competitive supplier’s plan. Such an environment currently exists for small business customers (rate classes 23, 24, G-0, T-0) in the Western Massachusetts service area of Eversource Energy.
Small business owners will have to battle the new default rate through the end of June 30, 2019, which they can do by searching for a competitive fixed electricity rate plan. Currently the new default rate that will go into effect in July of 2019 and stay stagnant through the rest of the year is unknown. However, there is no guarantee that it will go down from the current $0.12355 price. The volatility of the default rate throughout the last few years combined with the current high price provides business decision makers with an incentive to lock in a long term fixed contract of at least 24 months. In addition to lowering the electric bill and guaranteeing savings over the next few months, the business will be hedging its risk at potential further increases.
In a time of economic uncertainty the last thing business owners wants is an unexpected 13.78% increase on a necessary expense. The problem is easily solved by taking a little bit of time to search, compare, and shop for low Massachusetts electricity rates.
