PPL Electric Utilities customers’ rates will go up July 1 less than the utility wanted, but they’re still going up.
The state Public Utility Commission voted 5-0 on Thursday to approve a rate hike that will cost a typical home customer about $7 more a month for electricity.
The hike reflects a settlement worked out by PPL and PUC staff and agreed to by many consumer groups that challenged the utility's original hike request.
For the first time, large-load customers such as data centers will have to pay full cost of upgrading PPL's distribution network to serve them, according to the settlement.
Data center opponents everywhere have raised concerns about the centers raising rates on residential and smaller customers.
Balancing rates and affordability
In a statement in a PUC news release, commission chairman Steve DeFrank said the case reflects a key challenge the commission faces — balancing affordability against raising rates so an electrical system remains safe and reliable.
"The settlement significantly reduces the company's original request while also securing meaningful commitments related to reliability, customer service, low-income assistance, and accountability,” DeFrank said. “At a time when the electric system is facing unprecedented change, those investments and protections matter."
PPL serves about 1.5 million customers in eastern and central Pennsylvania.
The original rate hike request
On Sept. 30, PPL asked for higher rates to produce about $356.3 million more in revenue a year. Under the settlement, that drops to about $275 million.
PPL says the typical residential customer uses 918 kilowatt-hours of electricity monthly. Based on PPL’s original request, that customer’s bill would have gone up to $189.40 from $177.01, or 7%. Under the settlement, the monthly bill rises to $184.49, or 4.2%.
The rest of the settlement
The settlement also:
- Creates a new rate class known as LP-6 for customers such as data centers who use at least 50 megawatts of electricity. These customers will have to pay “all costs associated with serving them.”
- Applies $11 million of the rates paid by large-load customers to helping low-income customers.
- Requires PPL to waive its $14 reconnection fee for customers with incomes at or below 1-½ times the federal poverty level if they want to regain terminated service.
- Requires PPL to ask low-income customers eligible for the utility’s aid programs if they want their connection deposit applied to an outstanding bill rather than simply applying the deposit to the bill.
