The Penelec electricity service territory is seeing an increase in shopping activity as consumers in the area have become better educated on the process and benefits of Pennsylvania energy choice. Competition has forced electricity prices down below the utility default rate which has given customers the ability to substantially lower their Penelec electric bills. Though the number of shopping participants has increased in the area, the majority of consumers are still unaware that they even have the ability to choose their electricity company.

Since 2010 Pennsylvania has been a model state in running a successful electricity choice market with dozens of energy companies establishing offices to solicit over 5.4 million residential homes receiving power. Initially the majority of the marketing focus from these competitive electricity companies has been towards the state’s larger electric utility areas, mainly PECO Energy and the PPL service territory. After competitive electricity companies saw the success in power shopping activity in the larger service areas a push to solicit customers in Penelec and other Pennsylvania service areas was enacted.

Thanks to lower Penelec electricity rates offered by alternative companies compared to the official default “Price to Compare” rate, 36% of the residential customer class is Penelec is now purchasing their electricity supply from a competitive supplier. This switch rate is actually higher than the current 32% PECO Energy residential switch rate, but more than 25% lower than the PP&L switch rate. As more Penelec residential customers become aware of the benefits of Pennsylvania electricity choice, mainly lower electricity bills, it is expected that the number of Penelec shoppers will rapidly increase.

Penelec, who encourages their customers to shop for lower rates, makes it easy for residential consumers to compare competitive rates to their default rate. Penelec posts their current price to compare rate on their parent company First Energy site. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission requires all competitive electricity offers to contain all components of Penelec price to compare rate, allowing consumers to compare rates side by side and eliminating the potential of hidden fees.

Below is a list of current, and updated daily, prices offered by electricity companies to customers in the Penelec service area.

Businesses in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas have the ability to substantially lower their electricity bills if they take the time to shop for competitive commercial electricity rates. The electricity savings are available as a result of a recent rate hike from PECO Energy at the same time that the competitive business electricity market is pushing prices down.

On December 1, 2013 the General Service PECO price to compare rate surged to $0.1016 per KWh. Meanwhile competitive commercial electric prices are well below $0.09 per KWh. The PECO General Service rate is the default electricity rate charged to small businesses who are not purchasing their power from a competitive electricity company.

The rate hike will go into effect for Philadelphia electricity business customers who have not entered into an electricity contract with a competitive supplier. Companies who have previously switched electric suppliers and who are on contract will see no change on their PECO electric bill. To date 50% of all PECO commercial customers are buying their power from a competitive supplier. The 50% who have not taken the time to learn about Pennsylvania business electricity choice are paying more than 25% for electricity generation and transmission service than is necessary. Companies offering low Philadelphia commercial electricity rates are available for these default rate payers to shop and lower their electric bills.

Business owners and decision makers who receive their electric bill from PECO can use the energy price matrix below to shop for competitive commercial electric rates that will provide savings versus the PECO price to compare. Select “PECO” in the Utility box and then select your average monthly electric bill amount to see specific rates for your rate class.

Residential electricity customers in the PECO Energy service area will see a rate increase that will go into effect on December 1, 2013. The rate PECO customers pay for power supply, which includes generation and transmission charges, will increase from a current high rate of $0.0935 per KWh to an even higher $0.0972. The 4% increase comes at a time when residential customers in the area can find competitive power rates under $0.08 per KWh.

Competitive power companies in Pennsylvania have been able to offer lower electricity rates to PECO consumers since 2011. The PECO rate increase that will go into effect in December is only for residential consumers who have not shopped for competitive electricity rates. These customers pay a default rate that is determined by an auction process. Competitive rates, which are based on the energy wholesale buying strategies of competitive energy companies, have been able to offer attractive electric rates well below the PECO default rate.

At this point in time only about 31% of residential PECO customers are participating in Pennsylvania electricity choice by purchasing their power supply from a competitive electricity supplier. With current competitive prices yielding 19% savings versus the December 2013 PECO default rate there is no reason for a default paying customer to not start power shopping. The rate increase is expected to give a slight boost in competitive electricity company sales, however there is really no reason for everyone in the south eastern part of Pennsylvania to take five minutes and find a price plan that will substantially reduce their electricity bills. Online energy price comparison sites have made it easy for PECO customers to compare electricity rates on one platform. While many people just want to get the lowest possible fixe rate that is available, some consumers might opt to pay a slightly higher price in order to lock in a longer term so that they are protected from future price increases like the one about to take place. The online energy price comparison tool allows consumers to quickly compare prices and make a strategic decision.

Below are the lowest fixed electric rates available for PECO Energy customers. We recommend locking in fixed rate as opposed to a variable rate option as variable plans have been seen rising rather rapidly after the first month of service. Even though you can switch suppliers if the variable plan rises, it still takes up to two months for the switch to take place which will leave you in limbo with the variable price supplier free to charge whatever they want.

Small businesses who are still on the PP&L generation default rate will likely see a significant increase on their electric bills in December. PP&L has announced that their default generation electricity rates, known as the price to compare, will likely increase by 14% on December 1, 2013. The exact increase will not be known until late November as the price to compare rates are based on an auction process whose outcome is largely dependent on the wholesale electricity market at the time of the auction. However the estimated number have been consistently accurate, making the 14% electric bill increase for small businesses serviced by PP&L highly probable. The default rate in December is expected to be 8.686 cents.

The rate increase will only occur for those businesses who have not shopped for competitive electric rates and are still paying the utility default rate for generation and transmission. Companies who have immersed themselves into Pennsylvania electricity choice and have locked in fixed electric rate contracts will continue to pay the price for power as stipulated in their contracts.

Business electricity customers who have not yet found a competitive power company still have time to lock in a low fixed rate and protect themselves from the December rate increase. Currently in Pennsylvania customers can only switch off of default service and onto a competitive rate structure on their scheduled meter read date. In addition, at least eleven days are needed for processing prior to the switch date. Companies with meter read dates towards the beginning of the month would want to lock in a fixed rate with a competitive electricity company before November 20th at the latest to prevent the December rate increase.

Below are a collection of Pennsylvania commercial electricity rates gathered from several companies. The enrollment process can occur online and takes only a few minutes. Lock in a low PP&L commercial rate as soon as possible in order to prevent your company from paying the higher December default rate.

Compare PP&L Business Electricity Rates:

September 18, 2013

Already one of the most successful electricity choice markets in the country, Pennsylvania could get a boost in their number of power shopping customers due to recent utility rate increases. The state’s second largest electric utility, and most active service utility market in regards to number of shoppers, has increased their default electricity rates by 18.5% since May. Pennsylvania Power & Light (PP&L) raised their price to compare default rates to 8.227 cents from 7.4 cents on June 1. Another rate increase to 8.77 cents went into effect for the 57% of PP&L residential customers who are still buying their power from the utility’s default rate service program.

In terms of number of residential customers currently purchasing their power from a competitive supplier PP&L is Pennsylvania’s most active choice utility market. Currently 534,341 residential customers encompassing 43% of the total residential class has elected to shop for lower PP&L electricity rates found through third party suppliers. Customer who have locked in fixed electric rates with alternative energy companies will not be affected by these rate increases. Customers who are still on the PP&L default rate can prevent the rate increase by locking in a low fixed electric rate available in the competitive market. Competitive electricity prices replace the PP&L default rate on the electric bill offering easy-to-see savings.

Many residential customers who have not shopped for competitive electric rates are intimidated by the number of offers being solicited to them from numerous energy companies who they have never heard of before. Customers should take ease in the fact that all energy companies offering them service are licensed by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. They should however be careful of deceitful marketing practices that offer a teaser rate that quickly jumps up after the initial month of service. Below is a list of electricity rate offers pre-screened by electricitywatch.org, all prices are apples-to-apples comparisons to the PP&L default rate.

PECO Energy has announced that their default supply electricity rates will increase on September 1, 2013. The increase will be about a full penny per kilowatt hour higher than the rate that was charged during the summer, resulting in a $10 per month increase for a home that uses 1,000 KWh in a month.

The power rate increase will only occur for those PECO Energy customers who have not shopped for competitive electricity. To date only 31% of PECO residential customers are buying their electricity from a alternative energy supplier, meaning that the rate increase will take place for 69% of customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. The rate increase has presented a savings opportunity for these default paying customers. The increased PECO rates combined with lower competitive electric rates gives customers the chance to save money on their electric bill if they are willing to spend a few minutes shopping for competitive power rates.

Many customers have chosen to lock into long term fixed rate electricity agreements with energy companies that will not only protect themselves from the rate increase that will take effect in September, but also protect them from future potential rate increases. Many energy analysts are forecasting energy prices to increase from now throughout 2014 making now an idea time to lock in low fixed electric rates.

Though Pennsylvania has had an active energy choice market for several years, only recently have customers living in the Meted utility service area seen the benefits. As a result of rising Meted generation and transmission rates, competitive electricity suppliers have started offering low electric prices to customers with properties in the Meted service area.

As the fourth largest power utility in Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Edison serves over a half million residential electricity customers, all of which are now able to shop and compare Met-Ed electricity rates in order to save money. Many competitive energy suppliers were slow to enter the Met-Ed market because the default rates in the area had been low over the past couple of years. This price environment did not allow for competitive rates to offer savings to Met-Ed consumers which is often needed in a newly deregulated market in order to stimulate shopping. With the default rate recently increasing and competitive power rates dropping, the opportunity for competitive electricity suppliers has finally arrived and the result has been lower Met-Ed electric bills for consumers who take the time to power shop.

Current competitive electricity rates are providing significant savings to Met-Ed residential electricity customers. The switching process in Met-Ed simply requires a consumer to choose a competitive electric rate and enroll either online or by phone. Once the switch request is in you can expect the new electric rate to kick in at the next available scheduled meter read date. After that you simply get your Met-Ed electric bill as usual with the competitive electric rate replacing the Met-Ed default price to compare rate.

On June 1, 2013 Pennsylvania Power & Light customers who have remained on the electric default rate got a significant rate increase that will show up when these consumers receive their electric bills in July. The PP&L price to compare rate jumped from 7.4 cents to 8.227 cents as calendar pages turned from May to June. PP&L electric rates have been very volatile since the start of Pennsylvania electricity choice. At times competitive rates have showed savings as high as 25% versus the PPL price to compare, while in recent months few competitive suppliers were able to offer savings versus the default price.

The PP&L price to compare is the default rate consumers pay for generation and transmission charges who do not shop for competitive power. The price changes every three months and is often very difficult to predict. Even when PP&L does post an estimated price to compare for the next three month period it has proved to not be an accurate forecast. The majority of PPL customers who have done an electricity switch and who are buying their power from an alternative supplier do so because of the savings they get at that specific time period. However, for more customers the benefits of electricity choice is becoming just as much about price security and certainty as the instant savings. Consumers who locked in fixed electric rates last fall to save money during that time may have been slightly disappointed when PPL announced a default rate reduction from March through May of this year. However now they are saving money once again when electric bills will be at a premium in the hot summer months. These customers do not have to be concerned with this PPL rate hike or the potential of another one in three months since they locked in a low fixed electricity rate.

As of May 29, 2013 over 527,000 residential PP&L electricity customers are purchasing their power from competitive energy companies. This number actually decreased slightly from the all time high achieved in March of 2013 due to the low PPL default rates over the last several months. With the recent rate hike in effect that number is expected to grow. With 42.8% of the residential class active in electricity shopping the idea of electric choice in Pennsylvania is no longer a foreign idea. The market has become once of the most competitive energy choice markets in the country with new suppliers entering almost every month offering low electricity prices and sometimes additional incentives.

Current competitive PP&L electricity prices can be found below.

More than 360,000 electricity customers in western Pennsylvania will see a 16.8% increase on their West Penn Power electric bills this summer. West Penn Power, a electric utility company who services around 550,000 residential power consumers, will increase their generation supply rate from 5.386 cents to 6.29 cents. The substantial electric rate increase will only apply to those West Penn Power customers who have not shopped the competitive marketplace for lower power rates. These customers pay a default rate for power supply known as the Price to Compare.

Electricity customers can avoid this price increase by finding a low electric rate offered by a competitive supplier. Through Pennsylvania electricity choice, when a customer chooses to buy their power from a competitive supplier the competitive rate replaces the utility price to compare. West Penn Power, formerly known as Allegheny Power, has had low default price compare rates over the last two years that has kept the overall switch rate in the area below 30 percent. However, with the default rate now poised to increase by almost 17 percent, the number of West Penn Power shoppers is expected to increase exponentially.

When shopping for lower electric rates in West Penn Power, make sure that the rate is an apples to apples comparison to the West Penn Power price to compare. The rate should include generation, transmission, the gross receipts tax (GRT), and should not have any additional monthly fees or switching fees.

Energy choice is bringing thousands of consumers lower energy bills in cities across the country who have embraced electricity and natural gas competition. Some areas are seeing larger savings dependent on a number of issues including how the specific state’s energy choice bill was written and how the local utility purchases their power supply for default paying customers, or consumers who are slow to shop for lower competitive electric rates.

Pennsylvania electricity customers in the Duquesne Light area are seeing some of the best electric rate shopping opportunities in the history of energy choice. Duquesne Light delivers power to over 560,000 residential customers in western Pennsylvania in the Pittsburgh area and suburbs. Customers in this area who remain on the Duquesne Light Price to Compare – the default rate structure that non-choice participants pay for power – can enter into an fixed electric rate contract with a competitive supplier that is over 30% lower; simply put, they can save over 30% on their Duquesne Light electric bill.

To date, over 44% of Duquesne Light residential customers have taken the time to search, find, and compare electric rates. These customers are enjoying electric bills that are 30% lower than if they hadn’t taken a few minutes to search for the best Duquesne Light electric rate. All else considered, the switch percentage in western Pennsylvania is healthy and high enough to ensure that Pennsylvania electric choice remains constant in the state. However, this also means that close to 56% of the residential electric bills that Duquesne Light sends out every month are missing out on a huge savings potential.

Here are a list of some of the best Duquesne Light electric rates, updated everyday: